Rose Weasley and the Forbidden Forest
by kellythefangirl
Summary: The second book in a series following the next generation during their time at Hogwarts. When Rose Weasley arrives at Hogwarts for her second year, she finds new friends, new student groups, and a new Potions teacher. However, Rose, Al, James, and Scorpius discover that all is not well-that something sinister is lurking at the heart of the Forest.
1. The Newest Witch

**Hi everyone! If you already read Rose Weasley and the New Order, thank you so much for continuing to read the series! If you hadn't, this is the second book, so I would suggest reading the first one, but I don't think you'll be completely confused, at least not at first. Thank you so much, please review. Though it would be fun, I don't own Harry Potter (if I did, Luna and Neville would have ended up together). Enjoy! -Kelly**

CHAPTER 1

THE NEWEST WITCH

Rose Weasley had a mostly uneventful summer until August 14th, when the postman came. This was a rare occurrence at the Burrow where she lived with her cousins, aunt, uncle, parents, and grandparents, who were all magical with all magical friends and therefore used owl post as a general rule. So when she woke up late that morning and looked out the window to see a Muggle postman coming up the front path, she found it rather odd. She ran downstairs to tell her mother and Uncle Harry, who were currently the only adults in the house, as her father was away on business, her grandparents had gone on a holiday to visit her Uncle Charlie in Romania, and Aunt Ginny had taken James, Al, and Lily to the Quidditch World Cup that she was reporting on. Rose was still a little upset that they could only get four tickets, but she knew that Aunt Ginny had tried her best. Uncle Harry was sitting at the kitchen table, reading the Daily Prophet, with her ten-year-old brother Hugo reading a book about the Chudley Cannons, and her mother cooking breakfast while listening to a Muggle radio station in the background. Uncle Harry looked up when Rose appeared and said, smiling, "Morning, Rose, I see you're finally joining the waking world."

"There's a postman outside," she said, curious and not wanting to waste time in discovering the explanation. Uncle Harry frowned and walked to the front door and up to the man, whom he spoke with briefly and came back inside holding a letter.

"Who's it from, Harry?" Rose's mother asked him.

"It's from my cousin," he explained. "You remember Mr. Dursley, right Rose? You met him once, we saw him in London."

"Oh," she said. "I sort of remember him." Mr. Dursley was a Muggle, with a slightly balding head and a large build, who looked slightly uncomfortable around Harry, but civil. He was a businessman and had been wearing a very dull suit when she saw him. Uncle Harry opened the letter and began to read out loud.

13 August 2018

Dear Harry,

Hello, I hope you're doing all right. I know that we aren't very close—I've probably only seen you a few times since we were seventeen, and only exchanged Christmas cards and the like—and I know this is a bit much to ask, but something's—come up with Emma. I was wondering if maybe you could come up to London for a day or two, to help—sort it out. I'd appreciate it a lot. I know this is a bit odd, but I'll explain everything when you get there.

Thanks, Dudley

"Well, that's strange," Rose's mum remarked, and Harry nodded in agreement. "Who's Emma?"

"Dudley's daughter… well—why not, Hermione? We can go to Diagon Alley while we're there and get everyone's things for school," Harry reasoned. Rose's mother thought for a minute, then shrugged.

"All right. He is your cousin—and I doubt he would ask you to travel if it wasn't important," she said. "Rose, go upstairs and pack a bag for a couple days, all right? You too, Hugo." Rose was a little confused but excited to find out what was going on. She ran upstairs and threw some clothes and a few of her schoolbooks into a bag, along with her wand and a couple books for light reading. She ran back downstairs to find everyone else ready as well. The four of them walked to the train station and boarded a train for Little Whinging, just outside of London. When Rose stepped out of the train, she couldn't help but wrinkle her nose at the uniformity of the quiet little suburb. They rode a bus to the right neighborhood, and Uncle Harry led them to a place called Privet Drive, where all the houses looked equally dull. Rose couldn't imagine growing up in this neighborhood, and immediately had pity on whoever Emma was. "Are you going to be all right coming back here, Harry?" her mother asked.

"It's where I grew up, but… I never thought I'd have to see it again," he admitted. "I'll be fine."

They walked to Number 4, and Uncle Harry rang the doorbell. The man Rose had remembered answered the door, though he was wearing a sweater and slacks instead of a suit. "Harry," the man said, extending his hand. Harry shook it as he said, "It's nice to see you."

"Hi, Dudley," Harry said. "This is my friend Hermione Weasley and her kids, Rose and Hugo." Dudley shook each of their hands. Rose could tell that he looked a little nervous. "What's going on? Why did you need me to come?"

"Dad, is that them?" a girl's voice called from inside.

"Yes, Emma," Dudley called. "Come in," he told them. They all entered the house, following Dudley down a small hallway to a sitting room, where a girl about 11 sat on the couch, looking very excited. "Emma, this is Mr. Potter, Mrs. Weasley, Rose, and Hugo."

The girl stood up, running up to them. She looked a little nervous when she introduced herself to the adults, but very confident once she turned to Rose. "I'm Emma Dursley, it's lovely to meet you."

"Hi, I'm Rose," Rose said, smiling at her. She still had no idea why she was there, but she was sure she was about to find out.

Dudley retreated into the kitchen and came back with a letter. "This is why I need your help," Dudley explained. Rose's eyes widened when she saw what it was.

A Hogwarts letter.

Uncle Harry nodded slowly, understanding why he was here now. "Right, okay. Have you told her?" he asked.

"Well, she's known about—magic and all that—for a few years now, I told her about you—but yeah, I told her she, uh, got in."

"So am I really a witch?" Emma asked, practically bouncing.

"Yes," Uncle Harry said, "and Hogwarts is where you'll learn about magic."

"Do you go there?" Emma asked Rose.

"Of course," Rose said. "Every witch and wizard in the UK goes to Hogwarts."

"Does your brother?"

"Well, no, he's not old enough yet."

"Just one more year," Hugo said indignantly.

"Listen, Dudley, don't worry. Hogwarts is a great school and she'll be perfectly safe there. I've got two boys who go there and my daughter will in a year, and Rose is going to be in her second year now. The books aren't expensive and I know where she can get them. We were actually going to go get Rose her supplies tomorrow, Emma can come with us—and you can come too if you promise to… stay calm," Harry said.

"I'll stay calm," Dudley promised. "Why wouldn't I be calm? I've known about magic for what, 25 years?"

"Well, for starters, my brother-in-law runs a shop there and he's the one who made your tongue a few meters too long once," Harry explained, and Dudley shuddered. "And, you know, it can be a bit of a shock at first."

"I'll do it for Emma," Dudley said after hesitating a bit.

"Good. Collin can come, I'm sure—where is he?"

"Out playing in the neighborhood. I think he's probably—you know—too. He's been getting up to the same funny stuff you did."

"You're probably right, but he's only nine, let's not worry about him yet."

"Right, yes," Dudley said. "Well, you can make yourself comfortable, uh, Hugo can stay in Collin's room, and Rose with Emma. You and Hermione can have the sitting room, I'm sorry, I wish we had a guest room—"

"It's perfectly fine, Dudley, thank you," Harry said.

"Uh, Emma, why don't you and Rose and Hugo go for a walk outside?" Dudley said. "I want to talk to Mr. Potter and Mrs. Weasley about the school."

"Sure, Dad," she said. "Come on, we can go to the pond," Emma said, heading towards the front door. Rose and Hugo followed her outside. However, just outside the house, they saw a group of young boys running around kicking a football and Emma said, "Collin! This is Hugo, play with him."

Hugo looked at Rose for help, and she smiled. "Just be nice," she said. "Same rules as school for talking to them."

"I know, Rose," he said, "don't say magic, Quidditch, or Hogwarts," and went to join them.

"I thought we could get rid of them," Emma explained, and Rose smiled. "I figured you wouldn't want to hang around your brother much."

"Thanks," Rose said. Emma walked, mostly quiet, to a small park at the end of the road. Past a line of trees there was a clearing with a little pond and a log you could sit on, and Rose and Emma sat.

"So, you're a witch?" she asked.

"Uh, yes. You are, too," she pointed out, and Emma shrugged.

"I don't know. It's kind of hard to get used to. And I don't feel magical at all."

"Once you get your wand, it'll get easier."

"I get a wand?" Emma asked, excited.

"Yep. And robes, and spell books, and potion ingredients, and quills and parchment and probably an owl—"

"Why would I need an owl?"

"For mail."

"What?"

"You send letters with owls."

"No way."

"Yes, you do," Rose said. Emma was amazed. Then her smile faded a little.

"Is it… do most people have wizard parents?" Emma asked.

Rose shook her head. "No, it's pretty common to have Muggle parents, lots of people do. And almost everyone is somehow related to Muggles. There's all types of people at Hogwarts."

"What's Hogwarts like?" she asked.

Rose grinned. "It's amazing. It's a castle with huge towers and a forest and a lake, and there are four houses and you get Sorted into one of them when you get there. Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. They're all different personality types, kind of…" Rose talked about Hogwarts for almost an hour, and Emma just sat there in awe. Suddenly she looked up and stood up.

"It's getting dark, we should get back."

"Yeah, probably." They walked back, and had a slightly awkward dinner with everyone trying to fit at the table. That evening, Hugo sat in the middle of Emma's bedroom floor with Collin, Emma, and Rose, and released a Chocolate Frog. Emma caught it before it ran away and laughed as it wriggled in her mouth before she ate it.

"Even your chocolate's better," she exclaimed, giggling. "I'm so glad I'm a witch. I really want to get my wand."

"We'll go to Diagon Alley tomorrow and get all your supplies. Oh, and you can meet Roxanne, she'll be in your year at Hogwarts, she's our cousin," Rose explained, then Emma looked over to the box.

"Is that a moving trading card?"

"Oh. Yeah, they come with Chocolate Frogs—all pictures move at Hogwarts—" Rose started to explain, but then noticed that Emma was staring at the card with wide eyes. She peeked over her shoulder and sighed. It was just their luck, wasn't it?

HARRY JAMES POTTER

(1980-?)

Most famous for defeating the Dark wizard

Voldemort in 1998 at the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry

Potter, also known as "The Boy Who Lived" was

also the champion of the 1993-1994

Triwizard Tournament and is now head of the

Auror Office. He currently lives with his wife,

Ginny Weasley, former captain of the Holyhead Harpies, and

their three children, James, Albus, and Lily, in the English countryside.

Before Emma could ask any questions, Dudley knocked on the bedroom door."The boys should get to Collin's room. And you two should go to sleep."

"Okay, Dad," Emma said, and Hugo and Collin went to the other room. The second the door was closed, Emma asked, "Was that really your uncle?""Uh…yeah," Rose said uncomfortably. "That's sort of the whole story. Or, not really, but James and Al know more than me, and you'll meet them at school."

Emma didn't seem satisfied, but nodded, then asked, "Can I see a spell book?"

Rose and Emma stayed up late into the night, talking and reading. Rose had always wondered what it was like to be Muggleborn, and she almost wished she was when she saw the look of wonder on Emma's face. She knew that she took some things for granted about the wizarding world, and she was reminded when she explained how dragons and giants and elves and the like were all real and she saw Emma's eyes widen. She was so glad that people wouldn't really care anymore that she was Muggleborn. Rose would hate to see her get upset and think it isn't everything she hoped it would be.


	2. Diagon Alley

**Hi guys! Thanks so much for reading! (If I owned Harry Potter Fred wouldn't have died so clearly I don't) Please review, enjoy! -Kelly**

CHAPTER 2

DIAGON ALLEY

Early the next morning, Rose was woken up by an owl tapping on the window. She smiled as she got up. She had almost forgotten today was Sunday—the day Scorpius writes to her. Emma woke up and sleepily asked, "What time is it?"

"About seven," Rose replied as she let Maximilian, his owl, into the room. Emma's eyes widened when she saw the owl.

"Did you get mail?" she asked in awe. Rose laughed.

"Yeah," she said. "Sorry, Max, I don't have anything for you. I'll bring you some breakfast if you want to wait about an hour." Maximilian seemed to huff at her and perched on top of Emma's book shelf as Rose opened the envelope.

"Who's it from?" she asked curiously, coming over to the window.

"My friend Scorpius," she said.

"What kind of name is Scorpius?" Emma asked, wrinkling her nose.

"An old wizarding family name," Rose said.

"It's a boy, right?"

"Yes."

"Is he cute?" Rose gagged. "Sorry… no, then?"

"No! Well… I guess, I mean, he's my friend, I don't know…" Rose thought for a minute, blushing as she did, realizing that, objectively speaking, Scorpius's square jaw, bright blue eyes, and tall stature could be considered… cute. "I think so."

"Ooh, let me see it!" Emma said, giggling, reaching for the letter. Rose held it away from her.

"I'll read it, just let me hold it!" she said, and Emma waited patiently.

14 August 2018

Dear Rose,

Hi, Weasley. Things are going pretty well here. I finished all my homework, I bet before you. My dad said I could stay at Hogwarts, but I'll still be in Slytherin, so… I guess I'm lucky I even got that much. We're going to Diagon Alley next weekend to get my things. Say hi to Al for me, tell him he's so lucky to be at the Cup. I got a Nimbus 3000 for my birthday, so I hope I'll make the team this year, because that'd be kind of pointless otherwise. Hope you're doing well. I can't wait to get back to school. I hate to admit this, but I might miss you a little.

Scorpius

"Oh my God, he fancies you!" Emma said.

"No he doesn't!" Rose exclaimed.

"Yes, he totally does," Emma said. "He's being kind of mean but mostly not, and he misses you. He fancies you."

"You've never met him," Rose said, sighing. "It's not like that."

"Okay," Emma said, rolling her eyes. "I will, though. And then I'll know for sure."

Rose shuddered at the thought of Emma meeting Scorpius. She sat down at the desk near the window and wrote a quick response.

Dear Scorpius,

Hi yourself, Malfoy. I'm in London getting my supplies right now. Sorry I'll miss you—we'll be back home tonight. I'll have you know I'm done with my school work and have been for three days now. We're staying with Uncle Harry's cousin because he's a Muggle but his daughter got a Hogwarts letter—her name is Emma, I'm sure you'll meet her soon. We're going to Diagon Alley with her today. I sort of miss you too. I agree that Al is lucky and I'm very jealous. I want to go back too—I guess I miss you too.

Rose

Rose smiled and gave the letter to Maximilian, who took off out the window back to Malfoy Manor. Rose and Emma went downstairs to find Rose's mum already up, with Uncle Harry still asleep on the couch. Once everyone woke up and had breakfast, they got on a bus into London, where Uncle Harry led them to the Leaky Cauldron. Dudley stared at it. "Hold on—until you pointed that out—"

"You couldn't see it," Uncle Harry said, nodding, "it's hidden from Muggles."

"I could!" Collin announced. Uncle Harry looked at Dudley.

"There's your answer right there," he said, and held open the door for his cousin, who walked through, shaking his head. They didn't stop in the restaurant, hoping to get through without being recognized, and successfully made it to the back, where Uncle Harry revealed the door to Diagon Alley. The Dursleys stared in awe as they stepped into the shopping center. Dudley suddenly came to his senses and took out the supply list from the letter. They made it to each destination without much stalling, going back to have lunch at the pub they came through, and ending up only needing a wand. First, however, they stopped at the Owl Emporium. Uncle Harry was trying to convince Dudley to let him buy Emma an owl, though Dudley said he remembered Harry's owl screeching and leaving droppings on the carpet, which Uncle Harry said that someone named Petunia had exaggerated greatly. Rose wasn't really listening because she had stopped in front of a small tawny owl and her mother came up to her.

"Remember what I said? If you want her, you can have her," she said. Rose grinned.

"Really?" she asked, and her mother nodded. They bought the owl, naming her Musetta, and the group eventually left the store with a tiny screech owl for Emma named Hadley. The last stop was the wand shop. Dudley and Collin went into Ollivander's with his daughter alone, at Uncle Harry's suggestion, and while waiting, the four of them went to the joke shop to see Uncle George.

On the front porch, they found Roxanne playing with a perpetual spinning top, who jumped up when she saw them. "I got my wand this morning!" she announced.

"So did Emma!" Hugo exclaimed. Rose groaned at his lack of explanation. Roxanne looked confused and was about to say something when Uncle Harry asked her where George was. She pointed inside and they entered the shop, where he was finishing ringing up a purchase.

"Hello, Harry, Hermione, Hugo, Rosie," he said, "what can I do for you?"

"Not much, I just thought you'd like to know that my cousin's daughter is a witch," Uncle Harry said, grinning.

Uncle George's eyes widened. "Not Ton-Tongue Toffee Dudley?"

"That's the one."

"_Really_?"

"I was just as surprised as you."

"Now that's funny," Uncle George said, grinning.

"What's funny?" Aunt Angelina asked, descending the stairs from the Potion section.

"Ton Tongue Toffee Dudley produced a witch somehow," Uncle George told her.

"You're joking," Aunt Angelina said, laughing.

"We'd better get back to them, actually," Uncle Harry said.

"Bring them here!" Uncle George said.

"Likely," Uncle Harry snorted. "He'll see you and run the other way."

"Just the girl, then."

"Maybe. See you around, mate."

"See you," Uncle George said, then turned around and started to make announcements as they left the shop. "Ladies and gentlemen, everything on the first floor is 10 percent off for back to school—get Skiving Snackboxes for just 12 Sickles!"

Uncle Harry shook his head. "That's a horrible idea," he muttered under his breath as they left the shop. "Promise me you won't—"

"I promise," Rose said, rolling her eyes. She wouldn't want to get out of class anyway, but she could see the appeal for people that weren't… her. They saw Emma carrying Hadley and shopping bags, a few paces in front of Dudley and Collin, and she ran up to Rose when she saw them.

"I got my wand! It was so cool, I made nearly three shelves rattle!" she exclaimed.

"12 inches, hawthorne, dragon core. Is that—good?" Dudley asked.

Uncle Harry laughed. "They're all good, it's just different for everyone."

Hugo suddenly asked, "Mum, if Rose comes with us, can Collin and I go back to Uncle George's shop?"

Their mother thought for a bit, then turned to Dudley. "Is it all right with you? I can Apparate there in a flash if there's a problem."

Dudley shrugged. "Whatever that means… not for too long. Emma, go with your brother. Can we go back to that pub? I think I need a drink…"Uncle Harry chuckled and nodded.

"Meet us in the Leaky Cauldron in half an hour. Don't be late," Rose's mum warned. Rose looked at her watch as the adults left. It was 3:00. They went back to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and Collin's eyes widened in wonder at the storefront alone. Roxanne had since gone inside, and they entered the store. Hugo dragged Collin up to Uncle George and Rose followed, with Emma trailing behind them.

"Uncle George!" Hugo called, tugging on his sleeve. He turned around and smiled.

"Hello, Hugo, that was quick! And who is this?"

"Collin Dursley, sir," Collin said, a little shy. Uncle George laughed.

"Oh, so there's two! Hello, Collin, how are you?" He shook his hand and said, "Hugo, why don't you show Collin the Toffee?"

"Come on!" Hugo said, pulling Collin. Rose rolled her eyes at Uncle George.

"He's still living with Dudley for two years," Rose said.

"That's the idea, Rosie, his dad's got a bit of a history with that particular product." Uncle George winked and turned to Emma. "You're the little witch I've been hearing about, aren't you?"

She smiled. "I… guess? I'm Emma."

"Hello, Emma—Rose, we've got some love potion in stock, if you've got a particular boy in mind—"

"No, I don't!" Rose exclaimed, growing red as Emma giggled.

"Emma seems to think otherwise," Uncle George said, raising an eyebrow.

"Scorpius something," Emma said as Rose's eyes widened.

"Malfoy?" Uncle George laughed. "Hardly."

"Thank you," Rose huffed. "Where's Roxanne?"

"With Fred near the Pygmy Puffs. They're quite cuddly, if Miss Dursley is interested."

"I don't think I'll get away with two pets," Emma giggled.

Uncle George whispered, "I can send it to school with my kids if you'd like one."

"No, no, bad idea," Rose said and pulled Emma towards her cousins.

"You're just like your mother, Rosie," Uncle George called after her, a little put out. They found Fred and Roxanne showing off Muggle magic tricks to a small group of young children, which Rose noticed contained Hugo and Collin.

"Hi, guys, this is Emma," she said.

"Hi, Emma, I'm Roxanne," Roxanne said, jumping up and waving. "You're in my year, right?"

"Yeah, I guess, I'm starting this year," Emma said.

"How do you know Rose?" she asked.

"Um, I think… her uncle's my dad's cousin?" Emma said, slightly uncertain.

"Distant relative somehow," Rose said, confused herself. "She's Muggleborn, so she's a little… enthusiastic."

"I can't believe it's all real!" she exclaimed, looking around, as if to prove Rose's point.

Then, a boy about their age walking past muttered in disgust, "Mudblood."

Rose whirled around, enraged, and shouted after him, "What'd you say?"

"Shut up, Weasley," was the only response she got, and the boy disappeared in the large crowd.

"What does that mean?" Emma asked. Roxanne was astounded, and Hugo got up slowly, sensing something was wrong. Collin stood up too.

"N-nothing," Rose said. "Come on, guys, let's go." She nearly ran out of the store, with the other three following her.


	3. The Second Sorting

**Hi everyone! Thanks so much for reading, I don't own anything clearly... uh.. yeah, thanks. Enjoy! -Kelly**

CHAPTER 3

THE SECOND SORTING

"The Hogwarts Express will leave in five minutes precisely!" the conductor's voice shouted as Rose ran through the barrier with her trunk and Musetta, which were taken onto the train before her as she looked around the platform for Emma.

"They said they'd be here, right?" her mother asked Uncle Harry.

"They did," Uncle Harry said. "Maybe they're already on the train?"

Just then, Emma ran through the barrier, nearly knocking into Rose. "Sorry! My dad just remembered how you get through here!" she said. "Should we go, then?"

"Hold on a second," Rose said, and said goodbye to her parents and Hugo quickly. She walked further down the platform before she saw Min, standing with Louis and their French cousins, Charlotte and Lucas. "Min! Hi!"

"Hey, Rose!" she said, giving her a hug. "Fred and Roxanne saved a compartment if you'd like, Molly and Lucy already got on. Where are James and Al?"

"Already on. I think I'll sit with them, though. This is Emma Dursley, she's… a relative. Long story."

"Hi!" she said cheerfully. "Um, where did you all put your trunks?"

"Hand them to the crewmen," Rose said, pointing to the door, and she ran up with her trunk and Hadley while Rose talked to Min. "She's Muggleborn, she's a little…"

"Yeah, I figured. Ah, Lucas and Charlotte are transferring to Hogwarts," Min said with a strained smile. Rose giggled at Min's concealed pain and smiled at her cousins. The whistle blew and they all ran onto the train. Rose looked around in the hallway with Emma following her until she saw James and Al in a compartment. They sat down and James looked curiously at Emma.

"You're my dad's cousin's daughter?" James asked.

Emma looked startled. "I think so— you look just like him."

"James Potter," he said, shaking her hand. "This is my brother Al."

"Emma Dursley."

Suddenly, they heard running footsteps and a thud as someone clearly had jumped onto the train as it started to move. Soon, Scorpius appeared in the doorway to their compartment, clearly out of breath, and practically collapsed on the bench across from Rose. "My mum was having second thoughts," he wheezed. "We just got here."

"Hi," Rose said, laughing a little as he struggled to catch his breath. "Scorpius, this is Emma." Rose's stomach sank when she realized what she had done. Emma squealed, then quickly tried to compose herself.

"Hi, I'm Emma Dursley," she said. Scorpius waved as he panted.

"Watch out, Emma, he's a pureblood," James muttered.

Rose shot him a look and hissed, "So are you," and he went silent. Scorpius sat up, breathing normally now, and extended his hand.

"Scorpius Malfoy, it's a _pleasure_ to meet you, Emma," he said emphatically, glaring at James.

Emma whispered to Rose, "You really had to think about it? Of course he's cute."

"Shhh!" Rose said quickly. Scorpius raised an eyebrow. Rose blushed. James looked at Rose, then Scorpius, and gagged.

"Everyone please stop implying things," Rose groaned, and took out a book. She hoped to escape the awkwardness, but it was no use.

"Oh, no, she's really gone now," Al said, laughing. "It's like a trance, she won't hear anything else now."

"Shut it, Potter," she muttered. After a few minutes, a knock came at the door to their compartment.

"Any Prefects in here?" a boy asked. Rose looked up and smiled. Malcolm Zabini, the Slytherin prefect from last year, stood in the doorway.

"Nope. Hi, Malcolm. Are you Head Boy?" she asked.

"Yep. Hi, Rose, Scorpius. All right, then, I'll see you at school." He closed the door and continued on. James looked confused.

"How do you know a seventh year Slytherin?" he asked.

"The attack last year," Rose explained. Emma looked concerned.

"Attack?" she asked.

"Nothing, Emma, it's rare," James said.

"But it happens?"

"Well, yeah. Last year, it was a group of evil blokes who could turn into snakes. One of them was a professor."

She nodded slowly. "Okay," she said.

James smiled. "You took that pretty well. Ten Sickles she's in Gryffindor."

"I hope so! I don't want to be in Slytherin," she said, wrinkling her nose. Al looked at her, then at Scorpius pointedly. "Oh! Sorry! I'm sure they're not all bad."

"It's fine," Scorpius said. "Most are. Malcolm's all right. I'm not really Slytherin anyway; I was in Gryffindor but my grandfather wouldn't have it."

"Oh," Emma said, "why?"

"It's a pureblood family thing," he sighed.

"What does that mean?" she asked.

"Well, that his parents were both wizards. Some people are stuffy about it, some aren't. It doesn't matter at all, though," Rose said quickly. Emma bit her lip.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, of course."

"…Okay."

When they reached the castle, Emma stepped off the train in a daze. "It's so… big," she whispered.

"Well, it is a castle," Rose said, smiling. "Go find Hagrid, he'll take you over in the boats. We go in the carriages. Roxanne'll be with you."

"First years with me!" Hagrid was yelling from the edge of the water. "Also transfers!" Emma ran off and Rose, James, Al, and Scorpius boarded the carriage containing Min, Molly, Lucy and Fred. Min seemed relieved.

"Lucas and Charlotte have to take the boats," she sighed in relief.

"With all the first years?" Rose said, feeling a little bad for them.

"There's one other transfer. Someone from Durmstrang. No idea who, though. They'll have to be Sorted, though," Min said, shrugging. The carriages took off then, led by seemingly nothing. Rose's mother had told her about the thestrals, though, and she found it a little strange that there were creatures like them with such a mundane job as pulling carriages. The carriage stopped a little ways down the winding path before the castle. They walked the rest of the way and Rose could see the boats full of first years, along with Min's cousins and the mysterious Durmstrang transfer. They went inside and sat down in the Great Hall, greeting the Longbottoms already sitting at the table.

They were soon called to attention by Professor McGonagall, who gave the same speech she gave last year. The Sorting Hat sang its song, and McGonagall began to read off the first year names. "Acantha Carrow," she read. Rose noticed a small expression of alarm from McGonagall and turned to James.

"Are the Carrows—"

"Voldemort's inner circle," James whispered, nodding. The girl, who had jet black hair and eyes almost as dark, sat down on the stool and regarded the room with a cold expression. The hat had hardly touched her head before it cried out, "Slytherin!"

"No surprise there," James muttered.

"Alex Chang-Li," McGonagall called. James sat up a little straighter and glanced at the Ravenclaw table.

"What?" Rose whispered as James shook his head. She followed his gaze to a girl that looked remarkably like the boy walking up to the stool, very pretty, in Ravenclaw robes. Rose smiled. "Ah."

"Ah what, Weasley?" James said defensively.

"Nothing," Rose said, unconvinced. "…Who is she?"

James hesitated before saying, "Zoe Chang-Li."

"Right."

"Slytherin!" the hat called after a solid few minutes. Rose was surprised; most siblings ended up in the same house, but there are some exceptions. The table clapped, though not too loudly, and she suspected their family was normally not that house.

"Benjamin Creevey." Rose was sure she had seen the name before, but she didn't know the small boy with mousy blond hair and blue eyes that walked up to the hat. The hat said after a minute or two, "Gryffindor!"

Chryssa Drake was made a Gryffindor as well, Emma Drake's sister, and then McGonagall called out, "Emma Dursley."

Rose watched as Emma walked up to the stool, sitting down with a look of slight apprehension on her face. It didn't take long before the hat said, "Gryffindor!" Rose cheered as Emma came to sit down next to her.

Jared MacMillan was made a Hufflepuff, and McGonagall called out, "Sarah Nott." The Hat made her a Slytherin immediately.

James whispered to Rose, "Her great-grandfather wrote the Sacred Twenty-Eight."

"The what?"

"The list of families who by 1930 had stayed… pure," he spat out.

"He basically set the standard for prejudice in modern wizard culture," Molly added from across the table.

"Right," Emma said, "remind me to stay away from her."

"Ajax Rosier," McGonagall read; another immediate Slytherin.

"Another Death Eater's kid," James said uneasily.

Several more names were called before McGonagall read, "Roxanne Weasley." Roxanne made her way to the stool and took about five seconds to be made a Gryffindor. She practically ran to sit with Fred and Harry, grinning from ear to ear. Grace Zabini was made a Slytherin and then Min's cousins were left, along with a girl with long black hair who looked Rose's age. They were beginning to cause a bit of talk throughout the hall. "Lastly, we have three transfer students this year; Lucas and Charlotte Calvert, who are entering sixth and fourth year respectively from Beauxbatons school in France, and Anastasia Krum, entering second year from Durmstrang."

"That's Victor Krum's daughter!" Al said.

"Nearly your sister, Rosie," James snickered.

"What do you mean?" Rose demanded.

"You should read the archives sometime of the Triwizard tournament in 1994," James said, as McGonagall called Charlotte to the stage. Charlotte took a few minutes before the hat announced she was a Ravenclaw. Lucas was made a Gryffindor, much to Min's chagrin, and then Anastasia took her seat.

The Hat announced after five whole minutes, "Gryffindor."

Once they were dismissed after the feast, Rose looked at Molly calling the first years to follow her and Min leading Lucas up the correct staircase. She saw Anastasia looking a little lost in the Great Hall. She turned to Al and said, "Should we help her?"

"Yeah, I suppose," he said, and they went over to her.

"Excuse me, do you need help getting to Gryffindor Tower?" Rose asked her, before realizing she might not speak English very well or know what had happened at all much. Anastasia turned around and smiled at them.

"Um, yes, thank you," she said. She spoke with an accent but could clearly speak English, which relieved Rose. "I'm Anastasia Krum. But I usually am called Ana."

"Rose Weasley," Rose said.

"Albus Potter," Al said.

Ana smiled. "My father knew your parents a very long time ago, I think."

"Er, yes, I think so, too," Rose said. "We should head up to the tower." They walked up the correct staircases to the tower as they continued to talk. "So you went to Durmstrang for your first year? What was that like?"

"It's… much different from Hogwarts, I think. I am not sure, of course, because I have not had any classes yet. But I think it is different. It's very cold, in a very barren area. And you have such nice grounds, and weather, and a town close to the school."

"Yeah, I guess that must be different," Al said, nodding.

"What classes do you have at Hogwarts?" Ana asked.

"Well, we take the core classes first and second year, and then we keep taking those but less often third year and forward, and take electives too, other classes that are more specific to things you're interested in, like Runes, Divination, Arithmancy…" Rose explained.

"This year, though, we take Defense Against the Dark Arts, Potions, Charms, Transfiguration, History of Magic, and Herbology; and then Astronomy once a week."

Ana nodded slowly. "That's… very different from Durmstrang. Do you really have an entire class about defense from Dark magic?"

"Well, yes," Rose said. "How else would you have people become Aurors?"

"What's an Auror?" Ana asked. Al gaped at her, but Rose looked at him to signal to not be rude.

"A wizard or witch that finds Dark wizards and sends them to prison," Rose explained. "Both my father and Al's father are Aurors."

They reached the portrait hole soon after that, and Rose realized they didn't know what the password was. "What's wrong? Is it a door?" Ana asked, confused.

"Um, kind of—oh, Tom, thank Merlin!" Al sighed in relief as Tom Wood, captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, walked up the portrait hole the other way. "You're a prefect, right? What's the password?"

"Puffskein," Tom said to the Fat Lady, and the portrait swung open. Al, Rose, and Ana entered the common room as Molly was giving her speech about the dormitories with another boy who looked quite like the girl James was watching at the feast.

"If you have any questions, just ask me or Danny," she said, referring to the boy next to her. "Again, that's Molly Weasley and Danny Chang-Li. We're sixth years. Any questions?" There was silence from the first years. "All right, then. Boys on the left, girls on the right." The students dispersed and Molly came up to the three of them. "Hi, are you Anastasia Krum?" she asked.

"Ana," Ana said, and Molly shook her hand.

"Molly Weasley. I'm a prefect if you have any questions. You're in the same room with Rose, so just go with her." Ana nodded and Molly walked away to talk to Min's cousins, and Al turned to Rose.

"Tom said that the Quidditch tryouts would be tomorrow after classes. You're coming, aren't you?" he asked her.

Rose sighed. She had been thinking over the summer about Quidditch. "I don't know, Al, I feel like it's just going to distract me."

"Come on, Rosie, do something fun," Al pouted. "You brought your broom, so you must want to."

"I don't know, Al…" Rose groaned.

"You should try out," James said, and Rose jumped.

"You need to stop doing that," she sighed.

"Alice isn't going for it this year, you should try to get her spot as Chaser," James said. Rose thought about it; she really did want to when she thought about it.

"All right," Rose sighed. "But I didn't get in last year, so what makes you think I will this year?"

James sighed and whispered, "That's just because Tom fancied Alice last year." Rose rolled her eyes.

"Fine." James grinned.

"Great. See you lot tomorrow." He headed up the stairs to his room and Rose sighed again.

"Do you play Quidditch?" she asked Ana, and Al rolled his eyes.

"Of course she does, her dad's—" he started, but Ana shook her head.

"I'm pretty bad at Quidditch, actually," she said, shaking her head. "It's a joke in my family. My brother Nikolai's amazing at it, though. He's being recruited for the Vratsa Vultures and the National team. They started right when my dad retired a couple years ago. If he joins the team he'll be the youngest since my dad, he's 18."

"That's so cool!" Al exclaimed. "But I should probably go to bed. See you tomorrow." Al left and Rose led Ana to their room. To her surprise, when they opened the door, there was already an added sixth bed on the end next to Alana. She introduced her to everyone and nearly collapsed on her bed. It had been a tiring day, and Rose couldn't wait to sleep.


	4. Quidditch Tryouts

**Hi everyone! I hope you like chapter 4, please review! (I don't own Harry Potter) Thank you, enjoy!- Kelly**

CHAPTER 4

QUIDDITCH TRYOUTS

They received their schedule at breakfast that morning and Al asked, "Who's the Potions teacher this year?"

Rose looked and saw Potions marked with a name she had never heard before. "Selwyn?"

"Oh, bloody hell, that's another old pureblood family," James muttered, and Min groaned.

"Probably a tough grader then," Min said.

Emma looked confused. "Well, they wouldn't hire a teacher that wasn't competent would they?"

James snorted. "Er, the last Potions teacher was evil and died, so it's probably not a popular job. He might've been the only applicant. Of course, Rosie will tell us to get to know him first, right Rosie?"

Rose rolled her eyes. "There's a difference between a teacher and Scorpius. For one thing, Scorpius is 12."

"Whatever, Rosie, I'm just joking. Wish I was in second year, I have Divination first. Harry and I have been making up every word of those assignments all last year. What've you got first?"

Al handed him his schedule while Rose studied hers.

BREAKFAST AVAILABLE 8:00-10:00

MONDAY, WEDNESDAY: 10:00—POTIONS (SELWYN) 12:00—Lunch 1:00—HISTORY OF MAGIC (BINNS) 3:00—DEFENSE AGAINST THE DARK ARTS (RUDOMIN)

TUESDAY, THURSDAY: 10:00—CHARMS (FLITWICK) 12:00—Lunch 1:00—TRANSFIGURATION (MCGONAGALL) 3:00—HERBOLOGY (LONGBOTTOM)

FRIDAY: 10:00—POTIONS (SELWYN) 11:00—CHARMS 12:00—Lunch 1:00—HISTORY OF MAGIC 2:00—TRANSFIGURATION 3:00—DEFENSE AGAINST THE DARK ARTS 4:00—HERBOLOGY

DINNER AVAILABLE 17:00–19:00

STUDY HALL OPTIONAL 20:00—21:30 in Great Hall

GRYFFINDOR QUIDDITCH PRACTICE Mon, Wed, Fri 19:30-21:00

"Ew, Potions first, that's tough. Well, I'll see you at Quidditch tryouts," he said, grinning, and Rose felt her stomach turn as James got up to go to Divination.

"We have to go, guys," Min said, and Rose got up and shoved the schedule in her bag.

"Er, guys, where's Transfiguration?" Emma asked nervously, looking very lost. Fred sighed and pointed her to the correct hallway, where Roxanne was already walking towards. Emma ran off, waving goodbye to Rose. Min, Al, Ana and Rose reached the Potions classroom as the first of their classmates arrived. Min sat with Ana and Al looked around for someone to sit with before Alana walked in and waved him over to her table. Rose sat down in her seat from last year, waiting for Scorpius. He appeared a couple minutes later, bickering with Lexa about something. She sat on the opposite end of the room in a huff and Rose sighed in relief. He sat down and sighed audibly as he reached in his bag for his textbook.

"All right, Malfoy?" Rose asked.

"I'm fine, Weasley. She won't stop following me, I swear. Who's the new professor?"

"Someone named Selwyn," Rose said, shrugging. Scorpius groaned.

"Seriously?" Rose nodded, confused.

"Why? What's wrong?"

"He's a friend of my mother's," Scorpius said darkly. Rose nodded slowly, deciding not to ask—for now. Then, a man with very dark hair and a small beard, dressed in navy blue robes, walked to the professor's desk. The man had small thin glasses and gray eyes and seemed to be looking down at whomever he saw.

"My name is Professor Selwyn. I will be your Potions teacher," the man said. "I will take attendance now, please say 'here' clearly when I call your name. We will be starting work immediately following this." The class groaned audibly and he slapped a book down on the desk, making such a loud noise that the class was shocked into silence. Rose and Scorpius shared a look of dread as he called, "Bletchley, Laura." He continued down the list, looking up at "Malfoy, Scorpius," briefly. When he called "Weasley, Rose," and Rose said, "Here," he looked up again, looked from her to Scorpius, and looked back down at his book as he said, "Miss Weasley, please switch seats with Miss Rae."

Rose glanced at Scorpius, surprised. "But, Professor Selwyn—"

He slammed the book again and she jumped. "I expect you to listen when I instruct you to do something, Miss Weasley," he said, practically spitting out 'Weasley'. "Switch seats with Miss Rae."

Rose gathered her things and stomped across the aisle, towards the Slytherin-dominated side of the classroom. Lexa looked quite smug as they passed each other, and just as they were directly next to each other, Lexa pretended to trip over something and stumbled. Selwyn looked up and Lexa complained, "Professor, Rose tripped me!"

"Detention, Miss Weasley," he said, without looking up. "Do not argue," he said before she could protest. "Tomorrow night, the Forest."

"Professor Selwyn, I doubt that Rose tripped Lexa—" Scorpius argued.

"You, too, Mr. Malfoy."

"Sir—"

"Don't argue with me, Mr. Malfoy, or I will write to your mother and tell her that you came into my classroom with a Weasley. Is everything settled now?" He looked up from his book as if daring them to argue. They all shook their heads and Lexa sat down next to Scorpius. Rose sighed and sat down in the empty seat next to Devon Goyle.

Halfway through the class, Rose was measuring out snake fangs and Devon said, "I think you'll do better if you cut them in half first, it helps them dissolve." She looked up at him, slightly confused as to why he was helping her. He shrugged. "Hey, even I know that wasn't fair."

She smiled a little. "Thanks, Devon," she said, cutting the fangs in half and dropping them in the cauldron.

Rose couldn't focus during most of the afternoon. She wasn't worried about missing much, though, because neither Binns nor Rudomin actually started their lesson plans in any depth, but she wished she wasn't so scared of the Quidditch tryouts. It had gotten so bad that during their Defense class, Scorpius turned to Rose and whispered, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" she whispered back quickly, trying to take notes on Rudomin's course objectives.

"Your hand's shaking," he replied and Rose looked down to see that yes, it was. "You aren't nervous about the tryouts, are you?"

"Shut up, Malfoy, of course I'm not," she said defensively. "You didn't get in last year."

"Neither did you," he said, smirking. She hated that smirk.

"Tom fancied Alice. James told me."

"Sure."

"He did!" Rose insisted.

"Miss Weasley, Mr. Malfoy, don't make me separate you," Rudomin said, and Rose looked up in fright before the Defense teacher smiled and she relaxed, though she was embarrassed. She caught Lexa rolling her eyes dramatically across the room and sighed.

"Sorry, Professor," Scorpius said, as Rose tried to calm her still-shaking hand. She had been incredibly embarrassed last year when she hadn't made the team, and she definitely didn't want to be Alana's scorekeeper again and sit with all the teachers.

At the end of Defense, Rose could hardly walk as she made her way to the pitch, holding her broom tightly in both hands. Al caught up to her and was practically skipping. "I'm so glad it's Quidditch season again," he said.

"Yeah," Rose muttered.

"Cheer up, Rosie, you'll make it," he said, running up towards where Rose could see that James was. When everyone was seated, Tom Wood called them to attention.

"Hi, everyone, I'm Tom Wood, I'm Gryffindor Quidditch captain. Uh, we'll have Chaser tryouts first, so if you all could come down to the pitch." There were four people that came down to the pitch, including Daniel Logan, who was on the team last year. Rose didn't know any of the rest of them, which surprised her; she thought she knew pretty much everyone in Gryffindor. Tom made them all fly three laps around the pitch. Despite how nervous Rose was, she always felt on top of the world when she was flying, and this time was no exception. She was so happy to be flying on a real Quidditch pitch that she almost forgot to come down after the third lap. As she did, however, she saw a small flash of something moving in the corner of her eye. She squinted and saw that it was coming from the nearby Forest. There was someone down near the edge, holding something that was shining in the sunlight. She shook her head and landed on the pitch. Then, they all tried to score three points against James as Keeper in five minutes; Rose and Daniel were able to, along with another girl, but the other boy trying out could not. Rose hoped it was a good sign that she had flown the three laps faster than the other girl. She watched Al's formality of a Seeker tryout and then they had to give up the field to Slytherin. She saw Scorpius go down to the field for the Chaser tryouts and groaned. The last thing she needed was more competition from Scorpius Malfoy. Though on the field, she felt all right about her tryout, once they had eaten dinner and gone to study hall she was convinced she had failed. "Rose, you were incredible, I was watching you," Al insisted, while Min tried to explain Quidditch to a completely confused Emma.

"But—but it doesn't make any sense! If the Snitch is all that matters—" Emma kept saying.

"No, it isn't all that matters, see, in this game in 1972…" Min tried to tell her, flipping through her copy of Quidditch Throughout the Ages, as Rose watched the memo board anxiously for the arrival of the list of teams. Suddenly, she jumped up as Rudomin appeared with four lists and stapled the parchment to the board. It was suddenly swarmed with people and she fought to the front, reading the lists.

HUFFLEPUFF— Seeker: Stephanie MacMillan, Keeper: Jenny Grey, Beaters: Jeoff Vincent and Tim Donovan, Chasers: Dominic Allan, Adam Finch-Fletchley, Jane Thatcher

RAVENCLAW—Seeker: Gideon Grey, Keeper: Ryan Belby, Beaters: Sydney Boot and David Corner, Chasers: Lucy Weasley, Maria Goldstein, Zoe Chang-Li

SLYTHERIN—Seeker: Harvey Flint, Keeper: Gemma Farley, Beaters: Devon Goyle and Ajax Rosier, Chasers: Scorpius Malfoy, Alex Chang-Li, Ben Burke

GRYFFINDOR—Seeker: Albus Potter, Keeper: James Potter, Beaters: Fred Weasley and Harry Longbottom, Chasers: Daniel Logan, Tom Wood, Rose Weasley

"I got in!" Rose exclaimed.

"Me too!" Scorpius said from behind her. Rose turned around.

"I saw," she said. "Nice job, Malfoy."

"You, too, Weasley," he said. "It'll be nice to prove I'm better in and out of the classroom."

"Oh, hush," she said, smiling, and went back to the tower feeling amazing. But when she lied down in bed that night, she couldn't stop thinking about the figure near the Forest.


	5. Detention

**Hi everyone! Thank you so much for reading! (I clearly don't own Harry Potter) I'm trying to upload about twice a week, but I've been kind of busy so I'll try but it might only be once a week sometimes. Enjoy the chapter! -Kelly**

CHAPTER 5

DETENTION

Rose woke up the next morning dreading her detention that night. She had no idea why it was taking place in the Forest of all places, and she thought that seemed like a dangerously bad idea. She felt bad about it, but she was glad that Scorpius also had a detention, because she couldn't imagine having to spend hours alone with Professor Selwyn. James was less than sympathetic. "Cheer up, Rosie," he scoffed when he saw her at breakfast that day. "Be grateful you're not polishing display cases."

"What exactly are you doing anyway?" Al asked her.

Rose shrugged. "I'm not about to go ask Selwyn."

"He's terrifying, honestly," Al agreed, nodding. James groaned.

"Is he that bad?" James asked. Rose nodded.

"You know why I have detention, right?" she asked.

"You just told me he believed Lexa over you," he said.

"Because she had to switch because he didn't want her sitting next to Scorpius," Al said. James raised his eyebrow.

"Seriously?"

"Uh-huh. And Scorpius tried to help and he gave him detention, too," Rose said, sighing.

"Great. I have him next. I'll give him hell for you."

"Don't get in trouble," Rose protested.

"Come on, Rosie, you really think I'm going to listen to the likes of him?" James said, snickering. "I'll get Harry to help me."

"James!" Rose called after him as he moved to the other end of the table to sit with the Longbottoms. Al shrugged.

"Maybe you'll have company," Al said, shrugging. "We have Charms, let's go."

Al and Rose got to the classroom just as Scorpius did. He sat down in the first row and Rose followed him to the front. Al sat with Min in the back, neither of them being prodigies in this particular subject. "Detention's tonight, right, Weasley?" he asked her. She nodded. "It's weird that it's in the Forest."

"I know," she agreed, nodding. "But apparently it has happened. I was reading about discipline here—we're lucky that the corporal punishment was done away with, Merlin's beard, have you ever read anything about it?"

"No, Rose, you're quite literally the only one who ever has," Scorpius said, smirking. Rose glared at him and continued.

"It was horrible. They used to—well, I won't get into it, I just ate. It was reinstated during the 1997-1998 school year by the Carrow professors, but was gone the next year—"

"Carrows? As in the new Slytherin girl?" Scorpius asked.

Rose's eyes widened. "I forgot about her, I guess so. Yikes. But it was to be expected that year, that was the year of Voldemort's administration—" she stopped talking when Scorpius started shaking his head slightly. She then noticed the classroom had gone quiet. "What?" Scorpius just shook his head, as Flitwick had just entered.

"Take your seats, class, we'll start right away, wands out!" the old man called out, and Rose dug around in her bag for her wand, still confused. Ten minutes later, she was still trying to transform her goblet fully, while Scorpius had barely made it move. Suddenly, there was a noise from what sounded like underneath them, the sound of what could only be explosions. Rose and Al made eye contact, both of them thinking the same thing: James. "What the devil—?" Flitwick muttered to himself as he rushed out the door and down the hallway, towards, Rose guessed, the dungeons.

James wasn't at lunch when they arrived at noon, but Roxanne and Emma were, grinning from ear to ear. "Have you seen James?" Rose asked them, fearing what she already suspected.

Roxanne burst out laughing. "Didn't you hear the explosion?"

"Yeah, I was afraid that was him," Rose said, sighing, sitting down across from them. "What did he do?"

"He and Harry set off a whole box of Exploding Bon-bons from my dad's shop," Roxanne said.

"We were in the class across the hall, it was brilliant," Emma added.

"Wonderful," Rose muttered. "Where are they?"

"I think in McGonagall's office," Roxanne said. "They should be back soon though." Sure enough, a few minutes later, James and Harry arrived, laughing with each other. They sat down next to Roxanne and James winked at Rose.

"We've got our detentions for tonight, Rosie," he said. "You should've seen the look on the old git's face. Priceless."

"You still shouldn't have done that—" Rose protested, but James shook his head.

"I'm not going to deal with a teacher like him," James said, shaking his head. "I don't even know why they'd hire him. He clearly hates children."

Rose smiled a little. "Definitely."

Suddenly, Rose heard someone call her name and turned around to see Malcolm standing behind her. "Professor Selwyn wants me to tell you to meet him at Hagrid's hut at 7:00 for your detention, Rose. Also, James Potter and Harry Longbottom, same thing. I've already told Scorpius." He paused for a second and cracked a smile. "How did you get detention on the first day?"

"Long story," Rose sighed.

"I know their story," Malcolm said, eyeing James and Harry. "It's all anyone's talking about. As Head Boy, I can't approve, but… in all honesty… he's a bit stuck up. He could do to be taken down a peg," he said quietly. James grinned and Malcolm waved as he walked back to the Slytherin table.

"He's not bad, Zabini," James admitted.

Rose raised an eyebrow. "_You_ don't think a Slytherin is that bad?"

"Shut up, Rosie."

That night, Rose walked to Hagrid's hut after dinner a few paces behind James and Harry, dreading what was to come. She didn't know what she'd be doing, but she'd already decided that she never wanted to see Selwyn more than absolutely necessary, and this definitely wasn't necessary. She just wanted to get it over with, but James and Harry seemed to think that the whole thing was a big joke. Of course, they had gotten themselves detention on purpose, so to them it _was_ a joke. But Rose was incredibly nervous. She had never had detention before, and she didn't even know what it was like. She felt a little better when she saw Scorpius already there, talking to Hagrid. "Ah, you three!" Hagrid called out, and they walked a little faster to get there quicker. "Now, what on Earth did you do this early on?"

"Rose didn't do anything. We got detention in protest," James explained.

"Yeah, yeah, Potter, I'd expect it from you. But Rosie here? Never."

"Lexa made herself trip and said it was Rose," Scorpius said.

"That Rae girl? She's a bit…" Hagrid trailed off, nodding understandingly.

"Horrific?" Rose supplied, and Hagrid nodded.

Then, from out of the wood, Selwyn appeared, holding a lantern and four large burlap sacks. He approached them with a contemptuous look on his face and said, "I'll take it from here, Hagrid."

"Yeah, all right," Hagrid huffed, opening his door and stepping inside. "Don't get into more trouble, you lot!" he called after them as he shut the door.

"I suggest you heed the… man's advice," Selwyn commented as they approached the Forbidden Forest. Rose had to admit that she was a little curious to find what was inside the Forest, but she wasn't sure whether it would be interesting or scary. "We are collecting supplies for my storage cupboards. Apparently there was an incident last year that caused much of the supplies to be wasted in the NEWT-level classroom. I would like you to collect ingredients used in the Draught of Living Death, Amortentia, and Volubilis. Understood?" Rose became worried and her hand shot up. He sighed and said, "Miss Weasley…"

"We don't know the ingredients, those are NEWT-level potions, Professor," she protested, worried that she would get the wrong ingredients and punished further. Selwyn tossed a copy of _Advanced Potion-Making_ into her hands with a sigh.

"Satisfied, Miss Weasley?" he asked, rolling his eyes. She decided not to argue that it was a perfectly reasonable concern and nodded. "Good. I have some other matters to attend to, meet me at the giant's—er, Hagrid's hut in two hours." And with that, he set off in the opposite direction of the path as they stared after him. Rose opened the text book and started reading aloud.

"We need to find Valerian root, asphodel, wormwood, ashwinder eggs, rose thorns, mint sprigs, and mandrake roots," she said.

"Bloody hell, half that rubbish is still in his stores, we didn't destroy nearly that much!" James complained.

"Wait—you lot were the ones who did it?" Harry asked, confused.

"It's a long story, mate," James said as Scorpius took the book from Rose and groaned.

"How are we going to find any of this?" he asked. "We definitely won't find any ashwinders, and if we did, I'd run the other way?"

"Is that the monster from The Fountain of Fair Fortune?" Rose asked, remembering the old fairy tale with a sinking feeling in her stomach.

"Yep. They're probably not here, though—hell, who knows what's in these bloody woods—" Scorpius was silenced by the sound of a piercing howl in the distance.

"Was that—?" Rose asked, but James grabbed her arm.

"Who cares what it was, I don't want to meet it, run," he said quickly, and the four of them took off in the opposite direction of the noise, seeking shelter in a small cave.

"Is that Valerian root, Rose?" Scorpius asked after a minute or so of heavy breathing and silence.

"Brilliant!" she whispered, excited to have at least found something, and knelt down to pull it up out of the earth. She handed some to each of the three others, and then stood up when she heard a strange scuttling noise. "Do you hear that?"

"Yeah, what is that?" James asked, just as a relatively large spider burst forth from the darker part of the cave, making each of them jump before scuttled away again, making noises with its pincers. Rose could have sworn she heard it say, "Sorry, sorry…"

"Let's go, the mandrake root should be towards the middle of the woods, it needs darkness to grow," Scorpius reasoned, and they were off again.

They had managed to find mint sprigs, mandrake root, and rose thorns before Harry groaned. "This is pointless! We aren't going to find asphodel and wormwood lying about, they're not exactly common. And forget the ashwinder eggs, I'm not getting anywhere near a bloody fire serpent."

"You know they turn into dust once they lay the eggs, mate," James pointed out.

"And then the eggs are a fire bomb! No thank you," he said, shuddering. "What time is it, anyway?"

James looked at his watch. "About half past eight."

"Bloody brilliant," Harry groaned. "We have to find all that rubbish in half an hour? There's no way."

Suddenly, Rose heard a clicking noise somewhat far away, off the path. "Did you hear that?" she asked. The noise got louder.

"What is it, James?" Harry asked nervously.

"Not sure," James said, "it's funny, it sounds like horses—"

Before James could finish his thought, large horse-shaped figures bounded on to the path, heading straight for them. Rose realized that they were not, in fact, horses, but two centaurs. The centaurs got very close before stopping suddenly, and regarded them curiously. One of the centaurs was taller than the other, with a large red beard; he stood in front of the second, who had very long black hair. "What is your business in this forest?" the centaur with red hair asked them.

James pushed Scorpius and Rose behind him and Harry and whispered in Rose's ear, "Be completely respectful and let me do the talking. And whatever you do, don't say they're half breeds. You'll be dead." Rose's eyes widened a little, thinking about the powerful hooves she saw on the centaurs and the bows and arrows on their backs, and nodded. James turned around and said, "Hello, we're leaving as soon as we can, we have to be here for detention—"

"Nonsense, you're with the other foals that were here last night—" the first centaur started to say, before the other centaur trotted up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Ronan, please," the second one said. "I believe I know these foals. What are your names?"

"I'm James Potter, this is Harry Longbottom, Scorpius Malfoy, and Rose Weasley," James said. His tone was perfectly steady, but Rose could see her cousin's hands were shaking.

"Potter? I knew your father, James Potter. Ronan, I believe they are telling the truth." The one with red hair huffed and let the second one forward until he stood directly in front of James and held out his hand. "My name is Firenze." James shook his hand and Firenze said, "What is your task? If you need any assistance, I would be glad to help you."

"We need to find asphodel, wormwood, and ashwinder eggs for the Potions teacher," James explained. "But you don't have to help us."

"I'll take you to our observatory, I believe we have what you need."

"Firenze, you can't take humans to the observatory!" Ronan protested.

"What if they don't enter, Ronan? Could I lead them there and bring them their supplies?"

Ronan hesitated, then sighed. "I'm going to go back and join the herd," he said, shaking his head. "Firenze, you've always been too comfortable with humans." And with that, Ronan galloped away. Firenze sighed as he watched his friend leave and turned back to them.

"Follow me." Firenze walked at a steady pace that they could keep up with by jogging slightly for about ten minutes, getting closer and closer to the heart of the forest, before he stopped in front of a small rock formation. "We sometimes use certain herbs to aid our stargazing," he explained. "We also have some supplies for healing. I will get you what you need; please do not follow me, no humans have ever entered the observatory." James nodded as Firenze slipped between the rocks. James breathed a sigh of relief.

"I cannot believe this is happening," he said. "I thought we were dead the moment I saw them."

"They don't usually hurt the young, I thought," Rose said, remembering the page in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them about centaurs.

James shook his head. "If you trespass or insult them, they don't care how old you are."

Firenze emerged a few moments later, holding the last of the ingredients they needed. "We can't thank you enough," James said.

"You're welcome," Firenze said. "I should say goodbye now, James Potter. I have a strange feeling I will see you again." He started to leave and Rose remembered something that Ronan had said.

"Firenze," Rose blurted out, and James turned to her with wide eyes. The centaur turned around to face them again. "What Ronan said—about the other foals? What did he mean?"

Firenze's eyes darted down to the ground. "You aren't the only young we've met in the Forest these past two days. I suggest you do not concern yourself with these things, Rose Weasley—there are darker things in this Forest than me." Rose nodded, feeling somehow more confused than before, and Firenze departed.

"What did he mean?" Rose asked James as they started to walk back to Hagrid's hut.

James shrugged. "Who knows? Centaurs talk like that. I don't like the sound of it, though," he said grimly as they reached the edge of the trees.


	6. The First Match

**Hi everyone! Thanks so much for reading, I hope you enjoy the chapter! (I don't own Harry Potter- review please?) -Kelly**

CHAPTER 6

THE FIRST MATCH

Rose couldn't believe that the Quidditch season started that Saturday.

They had practice on Friday night because of a frantic Tom Wood running through the common room, saying he had just gotten word that they would be playing Slytherin tomorrow morning. "We have to get down there before they do," he urged them, and Rose ran upstairs to change into her Quidditch robes. She was excited about starting the season, of course, but they usually didn't start this practiced well past 9:00, in fact eventually Hagrid started shooing them into the castle. Rose was surprised that the Slytherin team had never shown up; she suspected they probably still didn't know about the game.

The next morning she woke up terrified. In just one hour she would be playing the first Quidditch game she'd ever played on an actual Quidditch field. The added pressure of the Weasley Quidditch legacy made her even more nervous for the game. When she went down to the common room in her Quidditch robes, Emma saw her and smiled. "Those look amazing! I wish we wore bright red like that all the time! Can I braid your hair back, by the way?" Rose shrugged and sat down in one of the plush chairs while Emma tried to tame her mess of fiery red hair behind her. "I'm still a little confused about Quidditch though. It seems a little silly to me—when you get right down to it, pretty much only the Snitch matters." Rose rolled her eyes and smiled.

"Chasers score points too," she pointed out. Emma laughed a little nervously.

"Right, I… I forgot you were a Chaser. Who's Seeker?"

"Al," Rose said.

"Is Scorpius on the Slytherin team?"

Rose rolled her eyes. "Yes, he's a Chaser."

"Really?" Emma asked, giggling.

"For heaven's sake, Emma, I don't fancy him," Rose complained.

"Okay," she said, smirking. She stood back from Rose's hair and said, "Done! Do you like it?" Rose walked over to the small mirror on one of the tables. She had been expecting an average braid, but Emma had somehow managed a French braid, tied at the bottom with a gold ribbon.

"Wow, Emma…" Rose said, and she smiled.

"It's nothing. I would have done red and gold at the bottom, but… I think your hair takes care of the red part. I'm going to braid mine with red and gold ribbon. I'll be at breakfast in a few minutes." She went back up to the girls' rooms, and Rose walked down to breakfast.

When she arrived at the Great Hall, there was a considerable commotion from the Gryffindor table. The entire team was sitting together and she slipped in next to Al, trying to avoid attention if she could help it.

"There she is!" Harry exclaimed, his mouth full of food, and James turned from talking to Tom.

"Morning, Rosie," James said. "Hold on, your hair isn't a mess."

"Emma," Rose said, somehow explaining everything, and James nodded.

"Ready for the game?" James asked her.

"Yeah, sure," she said, somewhat quickly.

"Sure about that? You look a little nervous," he said, and Rose glared at him. He smirked and ate quietly, a miracle in Rose's eyes.

"You sure you're all right?" Al asked, looking concerned. "You look a little green."

"I actually feel like I'm going to vomit, but let's not talk about it," Rose admitted. "Come on, are you finished? I'm not going to be able to eat anything anyway."

"Sure, let's go down there," Al said, and Rose left with him just as the Slytherin team came marching through the corridor. Scorpius waved to them and the team captain knocked his hand down. Rose turned to Al and snorted.

"Someone's a little serious," Al whispered, and they followed after giving the Slytherins a minute, not wishing to run into them again. When they reached the pitch, the Slytherins had gone into their locker room. Al and Rose practiced on the field until Alana and Min waved them down to the ground.

"Game's about to start, thought you might want to get to the locker room," Min explained.

"Are you being scorekeeper again?" Rose asked, and Min nodded. Alana grinned.

"Good luck today, Potter," she said, looking right at Al, and Rose was surprised to see Al blush. "You too, Weasley," she added, and Rose nodded, still staring at Al.

Min could clearly sense the awkwardness and said quickly, "Well, we'd better get up there. See you after the game."

"Right," Rose said, not looking at them as they walked away. The second they were out of earshot Rose grabbed Al's arm. "Do you fancy Alana Jordan?"

"What?" Al asked her, clearly terrified. "N-no! I—" Al sighed as Rose was not convinced. "Please don't tell James."

"I'm not that mean," Rose scoffed, smiling to herself as they walked down the field to the locker room. 15 minutes later, they emerged with the rest of the team and Rose stood in a line a few feet behind Tom with James and Daniel, Fred and Harry behind her and Al at the back.

"Welcome to the first game of the 745th Hogwarts Quidditch Cup! My name is Alana Jordan, I'll be your commentator today. The season begins in a face-off between Slytherin and Gryffindor!" Rose looked around the field to see that Ravenclaw had sided with them and even the Hufflepuffs couldn't bring themselves to cheer for Slytherin. "The new Gryffindor team has a new Chaser, replacing Alice Longbottom, second year Rose Weasley. Otherwise, the Gryffindor team remains mostly the same—Keeper fourth year James Potter, Beaters fourth years Fred Weasley and Harry Longbottom, Chasers fifth year Captain Tom Wood, fourth year Daniel Logan, and second year Rose Weasley, with second year Albus Potter returning as Seeker—I must say, I'm starting to be of the opinion that he's a bit more handsome than his brother—"

"Miss Jordan…"

"Sorry." Rose turned around and saw that Al was bright red again and smiled. "Slytherin's team on the other hand, is more different than Gryffindor's this year. Keeper sixth year Captain Gemma Farley, Beaters second year Devon Goyle and first year Ajax Rosier, Chasers second year Scorpius Malfoy, first year Alex Chang-Li, and fifth year Ben Burke, and Seeker fourth year Harvey Flint. And the captains are making their way towards the center of the field—" Rose could see Tom walk up to the middle where Madam Hooch had appeared with her whistle, facing Gemma, and they grudgingly shook hands. Madam Hooch blew her whistle and they rose up into the air. She threw the ball up and Tom caught. Rose could barely hear Alana's commentary as she flew after Tom to the Slytherin goal. Tom threw the ball past Gemma and it missed narrowly. Rose saw her chance and ducked under the goal, catching the Quaffle after it missed. Immediately she turned around and flew back a few feet to try to get it into the goal nearby, but the ball got intercepted in midair by Scorpius. Furious, Rose shot after him and watched in dismay as he threw the Quaffle into the goal, right over James's head. Alana could be heard over the cheers of the Slytherins, "Malfoy scores past Potter! James, what the actual—" there were noises of a struggle as Rudomin attempted to grab the microphone from Alana. James threw the ball back into the middle and it was caught by Alex.

"Tough luck, Weasley," Scorpius said, smiling a little, as he flew back to the first year's side. Rose followed him, even more furious than before.

"Gryffindor 0, Slytherin 10," Alana said, finally reunited with the mike. Rose intercepted a pass from Alex to Scorpius and raced to the Slytherin goal, scoring into the left goal. She grinned as most of the stadium cheered and Alana shouted, "GRYFFINDOR SCORES! Sorry, Professor—brilliant job to Rose Weasley, first ever score for her, Gryffindor and Slytherin tied at 10 to 10—hold on, what's going on above the field?" Rose looked up to see Al racing around the edge of the field. Before Flint even reacted, the first year Beater, Rosier, shot a Bludger at Al, coming within two inches of his head. "Careful, Al!" Alana shouted. Al had stopped his broom and Alana said, "It seems the younger, arguably fitter Potter brother lost the Snitch in the confusion." Rose grinned as she saw Al's head whip towards the first box. She was brought back to focusing on the task at hand when Gemma threw the ball and Daniel caught it, at the edge of the field. Rose turned towards him, intending to go to back him up, when she saw something past him, at the edge of the Forest. It was the same small glint of light she had seen at the tryouts. Al appeared to have seen it too—and he clearly thought it was the Snitch. Rose was about to call out to him when she saw something more pressing—Daniel's broom was behaving rather oddly. It had started to sway, then jerk, from side to side. As Rose watched, the broom suddenly made a dive for the ground, with Daniel desperately trying to hold on. Rose didn't think he was controlling it at all. Rose didn't want to watch, but strangely she couldn't look away as he got closer and closer to the ground, before suddenly, a beam of light shot from off the field, along with a voice yelling, "Arresto Momentum!" and the broom stopped about six inches off the ground, then fell the rest of the way. Daniel stood up, looking unhurt, and Rose dove down herself and landed on the ground, along with the rest of her team and most of Slytherin's as well. Rudomin was rushing onto the field, putting his wand back into his robes, hurriedly followed by McGonagall.

"Are you all right?" Rudomin asked Daniel, and he nodded. "I saw you hit your head, you should check in with Mrs. Longbottom to make sure. James, take him to the hospital wing please." James walked off the field with Daniel, and the stadium was silent, waiting to see what would happen.

"Was that a school broom, Victor?" McGonagall asked. Rudomin picked up the broom and turned it around before finding the school seal on the tip. He nodded.

"We have to inspect the rest of them," McGonagall said, then cast a Loudness Charm on herself. When she spoke, the entire stadium was able to hear her. "Today's game is cancelled, we will resume the Quidditch Cup when we have determined all supplies to be safe! If any of you possess school brooms, bring them to my office tomorrow morning to be inspected. Please return to the castle." The students began to disperse and Scorpius walked over to Rose and Al.

"What were you doing at the end, Al? Did you see the Snitch?" Scorpius asked.

"I thought I saw… near the end… I thought it was the Snitch, but—the Snitch has to stay on the field, doesn't it?"

"Yes," Rose said, nodding. "It has to, ever since 1884 when it took six months to find it. I saw it too though—and I saw sort of the same thing during the Quidditch tryouts. It was near the forest both times."

"So whatever you saw has to be what was controlling Daniel's broom," Scorpius said.

"You think someone was controlling it?" Al asked.

"Why do you think McGonagall's inspecting all the school brooms?" he asked him. "It has to be. I'd believe it too. Remember what Firenze said?"

"I know, but… who would want to kill Daniel?" Rose asked.

Scorpius shrugged before grimly pointing out, "He's a Muggleborn."

Rose shuddered and they started their walk back to the castle.


	7. The Envelopes

**Hi everyone! I'm SO SO SORRY that I haven't ****updated**** in like two weeks, I've been really busy with school. Anyway, I hope you like the chapter, please review! I don't own Harry Potter, of course-thanks so much! -Kelly**

CHAPTER SEVEN

THE ENVELOPES

It took three weeks before McGonagall announced that none of the brooms were tampered with, pushing back the Quidditch season considerably. Right before the rematch between Gryffindor and Slytherin, Rose heard Daniel and Tom arguing in the hallway.

"You're one of our best players, you can't just quit!"

"I'm not going back out there, Tom, someone wants me dead.""Daniel please—"

"Look, just… put Alice back on the team. I can't do it, I'm sorry." And thus, Alice Longbottom was a Chaser again—and the Gryffindor Quidditch team was 100% pureblood. Sure enough, there were no incidents during the rematch, though Gryffindor lost by ten points. A few weeks later, the Great Hall was being decorated for the Halloween feast while most people were receiving large amounts of owl post in preparation for Halloween, packages of candy and the like. Rose received a small box of Chocolate Frogs, along with a letter, from Hugo.

28-10-2018

Dear Rose,

Happy Halloween! I have top marks in school again but Lily's getting mad at me for it. Are you coming home for Christmas? Please come home for Christmas. By the way I'm sorry Gryffindor lost the first match. Also tell Roxanne that I want two Fanged Frisbees and a box of Skiving Snacks, and that I'll pay her on Christmas, thanks!

Hugo

"What does he mean, tell Roxanne?" Rose asked Al. Min snorted from across the table."Don't tell me you don't know," Min said. Rose shook her head and she grinned. "She's selling Weasley's Wizard Wheezes products to other students."

"She's what?" Molly asked, indignant, from a few meters down the table. Min groaned. "Roxanne!" Molly shouted, getting up to look for her, and Min hid her face in her hands.

"I brought Molly on her. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy," she sighed dramatically. Rose rolled her eyes as James sat down holding a box full of chocolate and three letters.

"One for you, Al, from Mum and Dad, and… this one's for Emma," he said, surprised, and got up to give the letter to her. Emma was sitting next to Roxanne, and James turned right back around when he realized what was going on. "Oh, no, she blew her cover," James said, shaking his head. "Merlin, I hope she survives the wrath of Molly Weasley." Soon, Emma and Fred had fled from their seats nearby Roxanne, fully abandoning her to their cousin's lecturing. Roxanne looked ready to murder both of them, but scared nonetheless of Molly's tirade.

"Save us," Fred said, eyes wide. "I told her she'd get caught."

"Like she would care," Emma scoffed.

"You got mail, Emma," James pointed to the letter sitting on the table. "I think from your dad." Emma opened it and smiled a little as she read it."Your dad took him to the owl post office," she told James and Al. "Nearly had a heart attack. Oh, well, I'll just send him my answer with Hadley so he won't have to go there again."

Suddenly, a dark gray owl Rose recognized as being one of the school's swooped down and dropped a small, thick-looking envelope in front of Emma. The envelope was unmarked completely and Rose noticed that the owl flew right back to the owlery, followed by several other owls of the same type. Al looked a bit anxious.

"I don't know if you should open that, Emma," he said.

"Oh, why not?" she asked, but Rose could see her hand shaking slightly as she reached for the envelope. Rose looked around the Great Hall and saw that there were quite a few students, in fact she would say almost a quarter of the Great Hall, who were either holding envelopes or looking around apprehensively as she was. When she returned her gaze to the table, she saw Emma opening the top of the envelope. Suddenly, they heard a shriek coming from the end of their table, and Rose looked quickly for the source only to find a small girl running away covering her face. She turned quickly back to Emma and saw a green liquid begin to ooze out of the top.

"Don't touch that!" James said quickly, pushing Emma back away from the table, and he called over to Molly. Their cousin arrived quickly, as the Great Hall was quickly descending into chaos, and performed a quick Vanishing Spell that cleaned up the liquid. Emma looked at her hands and winced as she saw a tiny little bubbling patch near the tip of her right thumb. A small black script appeared slowly on the envelope and Rose craned her neck to see the message.

GO HOME MUDBLOODS

At that moment, they heard a bellowing voice, clearly enhanced by a spell, shouting, "QUIET!" The entire Great Hall fell silent as they turned to face McGonagall at the staff table. "Thnak you," she said. "If anyone sustained injuries from the potion inside the envelopes, please report to the hospital wing. As for the rest, leave the envelopes on the table and go back to your dormitories until you hear from your Head of House." The students scattered quickly, and Emma looked at Rose in fright across the table. Rose gave her an apologetic smile and Al led Emma around the table. When they reached the common room, there was practically chaos, with people panicking, shouting, pacing, running around, looking for their friends, until Molly and Danny Chang-Li finally got everyone to be quiet.

"Who still isn't here? Did they go to the hospital wing or are they just missing?" Molly asked everyone.

"Chryssa Drake," Emma Drake said shakily. "She's with Mrs. Longbottom."

"Anyone else?" Danny asked, writing down the first year girl's name.

"I think Blake Collier went to the hospital wing, he had pretty bad burns on one of his arms," Alana said from a corner of the room. "Declan Finnigan-Thomas took him." Danny wrote down the names and looked back up at the crowd.

"Is that all?" he asked, and there was silence that seemed to indicate the answer.

"Who all got a letter?" Molly asked. Rose looked around as nearly a third of the House raised their hands. Emma did so from next to her, still shaking slightly. Molly sighed quietly. "Are you all Muggleborn?" The group nodded, and Molly looked grimly at Danny. "Okay. Just stay here until Professor Rudomin arrives."

Rose resigned herself to the likelihood that they would remain in the common room for quite some time—it being Sunday, there was really no hurry for them to get the school running normally again. She and Al had begun a game of chess, with James pacing quietly nearby, when Declan burst through the portrait hole, considerably startling some third-year girls talking close by. "Where's James Potter?"

"Here, Declan, what is it?" James asked, and Declan came over to them.

"Lucy's at the hospital wing, she wants to see you."

"What's this?" Molly asked, undoubtedly hearing Lucy's name. Rose could have sworn she had sonar. "Why? She's a pureblood."

Declan looked uncomfortable. "Er… will you come, James?"

James looked concerned, but nevertheless, his Marauder side was showing and he was intrigued. "Yeah, of course. Let's go."

"Excuse me, James, you can't leave the common room!" Molly said. "And—and if you're going, let me go, she's my sister!"

Declan shook his head. "Sorry, Molly, she told me specifically not to bring anyone but James." The two stepped back through the portrait hole and Molly groaned in frustration. She went back to the corner she had been sitting in, talking with Danny, and Rose couldn't help but smile when he leaned over and kissed her quickly. Of course.

"What was that all about?" Al asked. When he didn't get an answer, he followed her gaze and made a noise of disgust.

"Oh, hush," Rose said. "It's kind of cute."

"Ew."

"Shut up, Potter, your cousin can kiss whoever she fancies," Alana called from the table behind them. Al's ears turned bright red and his eyes widened as he looked down at the table. Rose caught Alana's eye and smiled at her friend, who was smiling slightly at his flustered reaction. She began to think as they continued their chess game—why would Lucy be in the wing? And why did she want to see James, of all people? Her thoughts were eventually interrupted by a foreign thought, literally. _Is Emma okay?_

Rose gasped, causing Al to look at her in confusion. _Scorpius? How are you doing this? I thought it was over._

_Orion never stopped it—I just kind of figured it'd still be there. Anyway, is she all right?_

_Yeah. She's a little scared, though. We have a few people in the hospital wing, though. _

_Figured you would. Nearly half of Hufflepuff got envelopes. We had a couple, too._

_Really? _Rose was shocked. Slytherin? _Who's Muggleborn in Slytherin?_

_One third year—but half-bloods got them too in Slytherin. Alex Chang-Li's in the wing—Malcolm and Grace got them but they aren't hurt._

_Who do you think it was?_

_I don't know. I don't know if it's a student—that looked like difficult magic. But I think I saw something—come find me after they let us out._

"Earth to Rose Weasley!" Al exclaimed, and Rose looked up at him quickly. "What was that? You were really out of it." His eyes widened as he slowly came to a realization. "Were you talking to Scorpius?"

"Yeah," Rose said. "He just asked me about Emma. Apparently in Slytherin, anyone not completely pure-blood got letters."

"Is Alex okay?" Emma asked quickly from a nearby chair. Rose bit her lip.

"Er, he's in the hospital wing."

"What?" She looked horrified.

"I'm sure he'll be fine, Emma," Rose said.

"I didn't even know you were friends," Al said. "If you could tell him to tell Zoe James fancies her, that'd be brilliant, it'd get him off my back—" Rose silenced him with a warning look.

"He'll be fine," Emma agreed hesitantly, as if to reassure herself. Al turned back to Rose.

"I didn't think the connection was still there," he said.

"Neither did I," Rose admitted. "I guess so." She sighed deeply and leaned back in the chair. The day had been exhausting already, and it was only about 10:30 in the morning. She wasn't sure what any of it had meant, but she knew that none of it could be good.


	8. The Target List

**Hi everyone! I hope you like the chapter! I don't own anything, though you probably knew that... so yeah. Enjoy! -Kelly**

CHAPTER 8

THE TARGET LIST

It was nearly noon when Rudomin appeared at the portrait hole. Almost immediately, the entire room fell completely silent, something rarely seen in Gryffindor tower. "You can leave the common room now—" He held up a hand when a large body of students simultaneously made a break for the door, silencing the room again. "If you received an envelope, no matter the extent of your injuries, report to McGonagall's office immediately. Now you may go," he said, stepping away quickly to avoid the stream of students. Rose turned to Al immediately, noticing Daniel, Emma, and the other Muggleborns leaving for the headmistress's office. "Let's go find James," he said, and she nodded in agreement. The two raced to the hospital wing. Rose had been burning with curiosity ever since he had left. Was Lucy hurt? If not, why was she there? And why had she asked for James?

They got to the hospital wing by the time Rose had a thought—there was a reason Lucy hadn't wanted them to come. She held out her arm to stop Al from rushing through the door, and the two quietly peeked through the small slit provided by the not quite closed door. She saw Lucy and James in chairs next to one of the beds, talking in whispers she couldn't make out. Rose couldn't see over their heads, and she didn't know who was lying there, but she was glad it wasn't Lucy. She turned around to look at Al. "Do you know who it is?"

Al shrugged. "Dunno. But Lucy sat by their bedside this whole time… might be a boyfriend or something?" Rose smiled a little at that. Lucy had always said she never wanted to get married, and the whole family had laughed it off. Maybe that was why she didn't want anyone following him? So she didn't get teased? But if that's what she was trying to avoid, who in their right mind would send for James Potter? They're close, she supposed, but she's close to Molly as well.

"Maybe," Rose said, unsure. "We can ask James later. Let's go. I promised I'd talk to Scorpius. You can come if you like."

"Sure," Al said, shrugging, and they set off for the Great Hall. Scorpius was waiting in the entrance hall near the giant double doors when they arrived, and he immediately perked up when he saw them.

"There you are, Weasley. Hi, Al," he added as they walked into the Hall together.

"Hi, Malfoy. What'd you see?" Rose asked.

"Well, you get right to the point, don't you?" he muttered. "Anyway, right before the owls dropped the envelopes, I saw them coming from within the Forest."

Rose's eyes widened. "Did you see anything flash, something shiny or something?"

Scorpius looked confused. "Er, no, why?"

Rose shook her head. "Nothing, I just—when Daniel's broom acted up, and a couple other times, I saw this light coming from the Forest.

Scorpius raised an eyebrow. "Really? I didn't see it. Do you think it's a signal or something?" Rose shook her head.

"I don't know, but no one ever shines another light, so I doubt it." Al tapped her on the shoulder then and she whirled around. "Yeah?"

"Look. The door," he said, pointing, and they saw James enter the Great Hall. They quickly hurried over to the Gryffindor table, followed by a confused Scorpius. "James!" Al called, and his brother looked up from where he had just sat down next to Harry.

"Yeah?" he asked. Rose noticed he was slipping a sandwich into his bag and she raised an eyebrow at him.

"Who was Lucy with at the hospital wing? And why are you stealing food, can't you just get it from Ollie, or I don't know, eat it now?"

James did something Rose had never seen him do. "I'm bringing it to Lucy. And it isn't any of your business who she was with. How do you know she was with anyone?"

Rose hoped she wasn't blushing as she stammered, "Er, she's pureblood, so I… thought she must just be with someone. Plus, who would attack the Minister's daughter?" James nodded, and Rose felt relieved he accepted her story. "And excuse me, but you're the king of things that are none of your business. Why can't you tell me?"

"Is it a boyfriend?" Al asked. "She could tell us."

"No, it's not," James said, a little bit too quickly, and said, "I'd better get this up to her."

"You didn't eat!" Rose exclaimed as her cousin made his exit. He ran back quickly and grabbed two more sandwiches before she could say anything else and left the Hall.

"What was that?" Scorpius asked. "Lucy was in the hospital wing?"

"Yeah," Rose said, "with who I don't know."

Rose didn't have to wait long, however, because Lucy was at dinner that night. "Lucy!" she exclaimed immediately. Her cousin smiled at her and she quickly went up to her. "Are you okay? Or is he okay?"

Lucy looked confused. "He?"

"Your boyfriend," Rose said, figuring she could skip the denial part of the conversation. "It's completely fine, you were really little when you said you didn't want to get married or do any of that, I don't care. Anyway—"

"No, that's not—" Lucy began to say.

"Rose, leave her alone," James said, suddenly appearing out of nowhere in that infuriating way of his. "She doesn't have to tell you anything."

"Wait, James, it's okay," Lucy said. Rose looked at both of her cousins, who were exchanging meaningful looks that frustrated her to no end. She hated not knowing something, and she felt as if this was a big deal to them. Lucy took a deep breath and looked at Rose. "I wasn't with my boyfriend. I was with Ava."

Rose laughed a little. That was all? "Oh! Why didn't you tell me? I would have sat with Min or someone, that's totally normal, what—"

"No, Rose. Ava's my girlfriend." And suddenly it all made sense. Except for one thing.

"James? You told _James_?" Rose exclaimed. "Not me? I wouldn't have cared! I don't care! I mean, I guess I care, I mean that's great, it's not that I don't care, it's that I—"

Lucy laughed a little. "I get it, Rose. It's fine."

"Okay, well… is she okay?" Rose asked. "I didn't even know she was Muggleborn."

"Yeah… she's got pretty bad burns on her arms, and a little on her face. It was pretty painful, they gave her a sedative, she was out for a while. Mrs. Longbottom said she'll be okay, though," Lucy said, looking concerned. Rose nodded sympathetically. "But can we move on? All the unhurt Muggleborns are going to see McGonagall, right?"

"Yeah, Emma's there now," Rose said. "Why?"

"We were just thinking we could get a pretty good idea of who's in danger," James explained. "I have an idea."

"But we can't go up there for no reason," Rose said, not even wanting to think about James's 'idea' at the moment.

He grinned in a way that made Rose very nervous. "Trust me, Rosie. Come down to the common room around 1:00 tonight if you want in."

"Malfoy can come, too, just let him know," Lucy added. "It'd be nice to have someone in the midst of all the purebloods."

James looked a little miffed. "I guess. See you tonight."

Rose found Scorpius later that day and let him know to come to the portrait hole, and around 1:00 she tiptoed out of her room and down the stairs to find, of course, the usual troublemakers—James, Harry, Fred, and Roxanne—along with Al. "Rosie!" James said, standing up, clapping his hands together. "Al, you've got it, right?" Al nodded, holding up the large Invisibility Cloak. "Brilliant." Al beamed. "Ready? Let's go," he said.

"Where are we going?" Rose insisted as James took the Cloak from Al and threw it over the six of them.

"McGonagall's office, of course," James told her, and they shuffled out of the portrait hole. "We're going to get that list."

"Why, though?" Rose asked. "What can we do about it? We don't even know who it was." She looked over to her left through the shimmer of the invisible fabric and saw Scorpius and Lucy waiting for them. They ducked under the edge and Scorpius walked on her left as Lucy fell back behind her. Soon she felt Scorpius grab her hand and it looked as though she was sitting at the Slytherin table. She could see the shining light he had described at the edge of the Forest, and she realized it was in the same place as the one she had seen when Daniel's broom acted up. She nodded discreetly at him. Suddenly, she noticed a slight problem. "Er, James?" she whispered. "Our feet are showing." She had suspected that eight was a few too many people for the Cloak to cover.

James swore. Lucy pushed to the front, out from underneath the Cloak, and James lifted up the edge. "What are you doing?" he hissed.

Without any further explanation, Lucy twirled her wand around her and a white light appeared at the tip. Within seconds, she had vanished. "Where is she?" Rose whispered.

"I'm right here," she said. Rose stared at the spot of wall where Lucy apparently stood with her mouth wide open.

"How'd you do that?" Al asked.

"Disillusionment Charm," Lucy explained. "We just learned them. James?"

"Yeah," he grumbled, performing the same task, then turning to Harry and Fred. Harry smiled sheepishly.

"I haven't really gotten the hang of it quite yet, can someone help me?" he asked, as Fred tried twice to perform the charm before getting it, never one to ask for help. Once all four of the fourth years were invisible, Al pulled the Cloak back over himself, Scorpius, Roxanne and Rose and they all continued on their way. They soon arrived at the headmistress's office, and the gargoyle yawned.

"There is no way you have an appointment," the gargoyle groaned.

"Please let us through," James said. The gargoyle sighed again.

"Is this about the envelopes?"

"We're trying to help," Rose said. The gargoyle looked hesitant.

"Fine. No one wants this to happen again. Not even us statues."

"Again?" Roxanne whispered as the staircase unfolded.

"I think he means the Chamber of Secrets," Al said uneasily.

"What?" Roxanne looked even more confused. Rose was surprised her parents had never mentioned that to her.

"It was horrible, they almost closed the school. I'll fill you in later," Al said as the ascended the staircase. James ran into McGonagall's office first. He turned around the second they all arrived.

"We have to be silent," James whispered. "Her bedroom's right up the stairs from here." Rose nodded and they threw off the Cloak. The whole party spread out looking and eventually Lucy whispered, "Potter! I think I found it!" She was standing in front of a drawer in McGonagall's desk, holding a long roll of parchment.

"Brilliant," he whispered. "Fred?" Fred produced another long roll of parchment, and James sat down at the desk, kicking his feet up on the desk to Rose's dismay. She didn't like that they were rummaging through the headmistress's things, no matter how well-intentioned.

"You have to tell me what we're doing now," she demanded.

James smiled in a way that seriously worried Rose. "This list is practically a hit list. If we know it, we can stop whoever it is."

"Who is we? Just the eight of us?" Rose asked incredulously. "There must be over 100 names there."

He shook his head. "The Modernists."


	9. The Portrait of Phineas Black

**Hi again! I decided to post two at once because I didn't update for so long-so here's chapter 9 too! I hope you like it-reviews are nice... :) just saying. Thanks! -Kelly**

CHAPTER NINE

THE PORTRAIT OF PHINEAS BLACK

"Who?" Rose asked. She was only becoming more confused, which was starting to make her furious. She felt Scorpius squeeze her hand comfortingly, and she immediately dropped his, blushing. She hadn't even noticed they were still holding hands. When she looked around self-consciously, she could see that Lucy definitely had.

"The Modernists. It's a new student group," Lucy explained. "Basically blood equality supporters. We'll explain everything soon."

"Okay, well, what are you going to do?" Rose asked.

"We're going to get everyone to help stop the attacks," she said. "James, start copying that list," she added, and he sat up straight as he dipped a quill in Professor McGonagall's ink and began to write down the names.

"Since when have you gotten involved in things like this?" Fred asked. "You could get your dad in trouble."

Lucy looked offended. "I've always supported Muggleborns! And why would my dad get in trouble because I happen to have an opinion about something?" Fred shook his head and walked to sit down in a corner of the office. Rose's cousin turned back to her.

"Will you come to the meeting, Rose? It'll be this Tuesday at 8:00. Hagrid said we could use his hut, since we aren't really sure we should become an official school group quite yet. It'd be nice if you came, and maybe got some other people to do so as well," Lucy said. "I've been talking to my House, but I've only just gotten James on board, and Gryffindor hasn't really heard anything about it."

Rose hesitated. She didn't really understand why they needed a group—didn't most people believe in what they were saying? "I don't know, Lucy…"

"Rose, please. We need people like you, you're smart and you can get the younger years to join," Lucy told her.

Rose thought for a minute, then sighed. "I'll come."

"Thank you," Lucy said with feeling, then turned to Scorpius. "You should come too, Malfoy. It'd send a message to have a Slytherin there."

Scorpius glanced at Rose and said, "I'll think about it."

"All right. Just stay here and stay quiet until James and I are done, okay?" Rose and Scorpius nodded and Lucy walked over to the desk. Al and Roxanne looked at her questioningly and she shook her head slightly—she'd tell them later, probably—she still wasn't very sure about this Modernist thing.

"What do you think? Should I go? I don't want my whole house to hate me, or hate me more than they already do," Scorpius said, and Rose shrugged.

"I don't know. I think Lucy's right, it would mean a lot for you to come… but I know what you mean. You don't have to."

"I know I don't have to, but I should. I mean, I like what they're saying and all."

"Well…" Rose sighed. "I think we're missing something. They have to have a bigger goal than that."

"You think?"

"Maybe." She sighed. "I just wish this wasn't happening."

Suddenly, a man's voice came floating into the room. "What the devil are you doing here? Do you know what time it is?" Rose looked around for the source of the noise along with the others, her heart pounding. She didn't recognize the voice, but it had to be a professor, and they were likely in very big trouble.

"Where's it coming from?" Scorpius whispered, and Rose shrugged, continuing to look.

"I'm up here!" the voice said, and Rose's eyes looked up at the walls until she found the source of the voice, a portrait of a rather short-looking old man in traditional wizard robes with a long black beard and eyes just as dark. She squinted to get a better look, knowing she had seen the portrait before. She suddenly recognized him.

"You're Phineas Black!" Rose exclaimed. "I saw your picture in _Hogwarts: A History_."

"You're the only one ever," Al grumbled. "Who's he?"

"Who are you?" Phineas exclaimed. "I'm the one who has the right to be here!"

"Shh! You'll wake McGonagall!" Roxanne exclaimed.

He rolled his eyes. "That's rather the point."

Rose decided to interject before Roxanne started yelling at a former headmaster. "I'm Rose Weasley, sir."

"Ah," he said, with disgust, "You're that Mudblood's daughter with the tall one, aren't you? The one that held me hostage in her purse for six bloody months…"

"Excuse me!" Rose didn't take kindly to anyone, not even a prominent historical figure, insulting her mother.

"Yes," James affirmed, rolling his eyes, "I guess she is. I'm James Potter—"

"Oh, bloody hell, no."

"and that's my brother Albus—"

"Blimey, there's two of you?!"

"and Harry Longbottom, and Roxanne, Lucy, and Fred Weasley—"

"Merlin's beard, how many Weasleys?"

"—and Scorpius Malfoy." Phineas squinted down at them, finally settling on Scorpius. Rose looked over at her friend, who was staring evenly at him.

"You're some kind of nephew," Phineas said. "Why on Earth are you cavorting with—"

"If you're anti-Muggle, you're not my family," Scorpius said shortly. Phineas looked taken aback.

"Wonderful, another Sirius. Have they disowned you yet?"

Scorpius rolled his eyes. "Not yet. I'm counting down the days."

"Yes, well. What are you all doing here anyway?"

Before Rose could warn Lucy about his politics, her cousin said, "We were just trying to help the Muggleborns who got attacked."

Phineas rolled his eyes. "Of course you were, you blood traitor. You all have ten seconds to leave before I call the headmistress." James jumped up, rolled up his copy of the parchment and shoved the original back into the drawer as they all scrambled for the door. "And I hope they open the Chamber!" he called after them as Roxanne slammed the door shut.

"Lovely uncle, Scorpius," James said as they all descended the staircase.

"Shut it, Potter," Scorpius muttered, and they stopped at the bottom while Al pulled the Cloak back over them. The older years performed the Charm again and they set off for their respective dormitories.

"8:00 Tuesday," Lucy said once again as she climbed the staircase leading to the entrance to Ravenclaw tower. Al insisted on accompanying Scorpius to Slytherin, so the Rose and Roxanne followed them under the Cloak.

"Rose?" Roxanne asked as they walked.

"Yeah?" she replied.

"I'm just wondering—was it like this last year? I thought people had stopped—thinking like that," Roxanne said, looking a little uncomfortable. Rose was almost sure this was the first time she had seen her cousin looking anything less than perfectly calm and collected—she looked scared.

"No, it wasn't," Rose said. "There were a few people like that, just like always, but not many at all. It's so much worse this year."

"So it has to be someone in my class," Roxanne said.

"No, I don't think it's a student," Rose said, shaking her head. "That potion looked pretty advanced."

Scorpius asked, "Could it be Selwyn? Advanced potion, against Muggleborns, new this year?"

Rose's eyes widened. "That makes perfect sense!" Everything seemed very clear now. There was no way it could possibly be anyone else. "We should go to McGonagall in the morning."

"Rose, I'm not sure she can help if it's just a feeling we have," Scorpius said. "We should wait until we have something solid as evidence." They had arrived at the dungeons, and Scorpius slipped out from underneath the Cloak. "I'll see you tomorrow," he said. "Good night, Weasley."

"Night, Malfoy," Rose replied, smirking to hide her disappointment. She wanted to resolve this so she could have a normal school year. But she knew he was right. She would wait. But for how long?

"Do you think Black was right?" Al asked them as they made their way quickly back to Gryffindor tower—it was now past 2:00, and they had class in the morning. "I mean, do you think Selwyn could really reopen the Chamber of Secrets?"

"I hope not," Rose said grimly, shuddering. But honestly, after today, she wasn't really sure what he was capable of.


	10. The Modernist Meeting

**Hi everyone! Thanks for reading, please review! (I am not anything close to owning Harry Potter) Enjoy! -Kelly**

CHAPTER 10

THE MODERNIST MEETING

At 8:00 p.m. Tuesday night, Rose and Al walked down to the Entrance Hall and met Scorpius before leaving the castle, headed for Hagrid's hut. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" Al asked somewhat nervously. "I don't know if we should. I mean, Selwyn might find out."

"Al, if you don't want to go, you don't have to," Rose said. She had been thinking about the idea behind the group in the last few days, and she really started to think it was a good idea, despite the risk Al was obsessing over. She wasn't very worried about that, though—they didn't even officially exist, who would find out?

"I think it'll be fine, Al," Scorpius said as they neared the small hut. They could see smoke rising from the chimney as they got closer; the October air had started to get very cold in the later part of the month. Rose could hardly stand to be outside in just her Quidditch robes during practice, no matter how glad she was to be on the team.

"There's Hagrid," Rose said, seeing the large gamekeeper standing in the doorway. They hurried the rest of the way and all three were enveloped in a hug.

"Does it take a secret meeting to get you to visit me?" he complained, holding open the door from them.

"Sorry, Hagrid," Rose said, shivering as Al and Scorpius came inside after her.

He smiled at her. "It's all right, Weasley, I'm a bit out of the way. I hope I'll be seeing more of you next year," he added. She smiled politely and remembered the horror stories her parents had told her as a warning against the Care of Magical Creatures class.

"Guys, come sit down!" Lucy called from across the room. Rose went over to the large round table in the corner and found there were only two remaining seats. Hagrid had managed to find eleven in all, and the other seats were filled by Lucy, Ava, James, Harry, Fred, Roxanne, and three Ravenclaws she didn't know. Soon, however, she recognized one of them—Zoe Chang-Li, the girl James fancied.

"It's all right, I'll just stand," Lucy offered, and gave up her seat before any of them could object. Al and Scorpius took the two seats that had been empty, leaving Rose Lucy's seat between Ava and James. "Is anyone else coming?" she asked, and they shook their heads. "All right, then, let's get started. Er, does everyone know each other?"

There was an awkward pause as Rose and the other younger years looked around at the older students before Scorpius finally said, "No."

"Okay, uh, well I know you know all the Gryffindors here, and this is Zoe Chang-Li," The fifth-year Ravenclaw smiled at all of them but mostly James, "Aidan Tanner, the treasurer," a tall boy who looked about Rose's age with fluffy-looking ash blond hair and glasses waved at the group, "my friend Ava Matthews," Rose looked over at Ava and saw her looking down, frowning slightly. She seemed to notice Rose looking at her and glanced in her direction as Lucy said, "and Stephanie MacMillan, vice president." Rose smiled at her and Ava smiled back, looking a little confused. "Guys, this is Al, Rose and Scorpius."

"Rose Weasley?" Aidan asked. Rose looked over at the boy and nodded. He held out his hand and she shook it. "Aidan Tanner. I've heard amazing things from the professors about you. How on Earth are you not in Ravenclaw?"

Rose laughed a little uncomfortably. She didn't know her professors talked about her—though she did like being known for something other than her parents. "Er, I almost was. The Hat considered it. I guess the Weasley thing won out."

Aidan looked puzzled. "I find it fascinating that some families are so different as individuals but almost always are in the same house. I mean, Lucy didn't of course, and Charlotte as well, but it's very interesting. Do you think it has something to do with who marries into families?"

Rose blinked. "I don't know, I thought it had more to do with personality. Scorpius was sorted into Gryffindor, despite generations of Malfoys and Blacks in Slytherin except for one or two here and there."

"That's true, he's another exception," Aidan said, seeming very invested for such a random conversation. Rose looked over at Scorpius, who looked a little uncomfortable, most likely because Aidan was speaking as if he wasn't even there.

"Aidan—time and a place," Lucy interrupted, and the boy coughed uncomfortably and retreated back into his chair. "Aidan's the Ravenclaw of Ravenclaws—sorry about that, Rose."

"It's fine—" Rose started to say, but Lucy had already begun.

"So, I was thinking that we could get a sort of—manifesto or pamphlet or something written out today, that we could give new members, or just to state our goals… er, we don't have a secretary—would anyone like to…?"

There were a few moments of silence before Al said, "Rose, why don't you do it? You're a good writer."

"What?" Rose was taken aback. "Wouldn't you want someone a bit older?"

"No, it'd be great if you'd do it," Lucy said, with a pleading expression. Rose sighed.

"All right."

"Brilliant! So we'll all contribute, but you'll do the writing, okay?" Rose nodded and was given a roll of parchment by Aidan. Suddenly, she thought of a problem.

"How are we going to get more than one copy of this?"

Lucy hesitated, then seemed to think of something. "We could send it to Teddy, he works in a Muggle shop, doesn't he?"

"Yeah, he has to, Ministry internships don't pay," James said. "I can send it to him tomorrow. I'm sure they have a copier."

"Okay, then. Hagrid, have you got any ink?" Lucy called out. Hagrid got some and Lucy handed it over to Rose. She dipped her quill in and looked around.

"How should I start?" Rose asked.

"Hmmm. Probably just a title, like 'Modernist Party Manifesto' or something," Aidan suggested, and Rose felt a little embarrassed to not have thought of something so obvious. She supposed she was just nervous. Rose quickly wrote the title at the top of the roll of parchment in her best script.

"Oh, I've had the mission statement figured out for weeks," Lucy said, and cleared her throat. " 'We are a student group that seeks to stop the discrimination based on familial heritage and to bring the wizarding community into the 21st century.' "

Rose dutifully wrote the statement down as James argued, "Bit vague, Lucy."

"That's what a mission statement is," she said. "You elaborate in the rest of the manifesto. Let's do goals next, Rose," she added, and Rose wrote out _Goals _in script once again. "So, er, any ideas?"

"Protect Muggleborns," Harry said, "though that's pretty obvious…"

"We need to say it anyway," Lucy said, shrugging, "but let's not use that word, it sounds too—casual? I don't know, say, 'students of Muggle or part Muggle parentage'."

"Oh! Improve the Muggle Studies curriculum," Ava said, wrinkling her nose. "It doesn't make much sense at the moment, it can't be helping public opinion."

"Great, Ava," Lucy said. "Rose, just word things however you see fit, you're clever enough to handle it, let's not bicker about that." Rose felt a little overwhelmed, but nodded.

"Er, how about a schoolbook fund for Muggleborns?" Zoe suggested. "I mean, Muggles don't have Galleons. And some might not want to pay for a school they don't understand."

"There is a fund," Aidan said, and got a bit red around his ears as he added, "I, ah, got my books through that. But the real problem is that Muggle parents don't understand. We could start an outreach program like that, maybe—one of us could go meet with the parents? My parents thought it was a scam when they couldn't find the school's website, I almost didn't get to come here."

"That's a great idea," Stephanie said. "Education of parents should be a priority—my mum's a Muggle and my dad didn't tell her until I was around 9, they had so many arguments over it."

"That's another problem," Scorpius said. Lucy looked a bit startled—he had been completely silent until now. "People don't acknowledge their—what'd you call it? Heritage? There's a Muggleborn girl in Slytherin but we didn't even know until she got an envelope."

"There's a Muggleborn in Slytherin? What's her name?" Aidan asked, bursting with excitement, but Lucy gave him a warning look and he settled down.

"That's a good point, Scorpius. Maybe we could have some kind of pride day or something."

"Can I add something?" James asked.

"Yeah, sure, what is it?" Stephanie said.

"Is this just about Muggleborns?"

"Well, it doesn't have to be," Lucy said, frowning, "what do you mean, James?"

"Half-breeds," he said. "Or any minority, really. Teddy's part werewolf and he went through here without telling anyone—his dad was a full one, only his friends knew. Hagrid was half-giant, he went here. Parseltongues never admit to it, they think they'll be branded as the next Voldemort." Most of the room flinched at the name, and Al looked down at the floor uncomfortably at the word Parseltongue. "Victoire went here, Lucas, Charlotte, and Min are here, and Louis will be here, all as part Veela. We should help people like that, too."

"Totally right. Rose, if you could just put that in with the Muggleborn pride thing—" Lucy told her.

"Also, there should be education for anti-Muggle students," Scorpius added. "There are people who come to Hogwarts and have literally never heard another point of view."

"That's true, Alex has been telling me," Zoe said.

"Any more goals?" There was silence. "All right, then, how about we state our beliefs?"

There was more arguing about the beliefs of the group and exactly how they should be stated, until eventually, Hagrid popped in from the other room and said, "It's nearly 9:30, you lot. If you aren't up at the castle by 10, you'll get me in trouble."

"All right, Hagrid, we're just finishing up," Lucy said. "I think we have time for one more."

"I mean, even the wizards who are nice to Muggles sort of think they're a bit stupid," Ava pointed out. "That's an outdated view, they're going off of interactions they had with magic in the 1600s."

"You're so right! It's infuriating how they all think that Muggles can't handle knowing anything about the wizarding world!" Aidan exclaimed. "I believe it's because of the Statute—we've been so far removed from that world for so long that we've forgotten that most Muggles lived perfectly peacefully with wizards before. And society has evolved so much since then."

"What are you saying?" Fred asked slowly.

Lucy took a deep breath and said, "The Statute of Secrecy is completely outdated and needs to be repealed." A hush fell over the room. Rose looked over at Scorpius, initially shocked, but as she thought about it, it made sense—Muggleborn's parents seemed to usually handle it pretty well.

"Are you mad?" Fred asked, standing up. "This is ridiculous."

"Why?" Lucy asked, clearly offended. "It would solve almost all of the problems we were talking about before—and who knows, maybe more interaction would do the old pureblood families some good—sorry, Malfoy."

"No, you're right—" he began, but Lucy wasn't listening.

"There are probably kids out there who could come to Hogwarts if their parents had accepted it! We could even get a Muggle teaching Muggle Studies—"

"Lucy, this is too radical, you're never going to get supporters and your dad will be a laughingstock. I'm not supporting this nonsense."

"What, so you don't want to help? Have you heard what they're saying? They think the Chamber might open again. Do you realize that we have a chance to stop it?"

"If the Statute gets repealed, there'll be chaos, Lucy. That's if you succeed—and you won't. I can't believe you would support something like that. I'm leaving. Come on, Roxanne." Roxanne didn't move. He looked at her, shocked. "Are you serious?" Roxanne didn't look at him. Fred sighed. "Fine." He stormed out of the door and was gone.

Lucy's voice shook as she asked, "Does anyone else have any ideas?" Everyone was silent. "Okay, then. Rose, write that down." Rose's hand shook slightly and she fought to steady it as she wrote down the last belief. "Okay. Everyone sign." They all signed the paper. Lucy, Stephanie, Aidan, and Rose had their positions in front of their names. That made Rose a little nervous—if they got in trouble for this, she would be one of the first—and also one of the first targets if Selwyn found out. Lucy took the parchment and rolled it up, handing it to James. "Try to get more people from each of your houses to join," Lucy said as they all got ready to leave. "Especially you, Scorpius. Thanks, Hagrid!" she called as they stepped through the door. "We'll meet here again two weeks from today. Same time."

"I'd love to continue our discussion sometime," Aidan told Rose when they reached the entrance hall. "I'm at study hall nearly every night, feel free to come talk to me any time.""Oh, of course," Rose said, smiling. "That'd be great."

"It was great to meet you, Rose," he said, smiling back and held out his hand again. She shook it, and he turned to follow Lucy, Ava, Zoe, and Stephanie back to their tower. Rose suddenly wondered how on Earth she was top of her class when he was in it.

"Aidan?" she called after him. He turned around. "What year are you in?"

"I'm a third year," he said. "Why?"

"Er, no reason," Rose said. "Bye!"

"Good night!" The Ravenclaws had gone, and Scorpius frowned.

"I don't really like him," Scorpius said. Rose was surprised.

"Why not?"

"…I don't know. He seems awfully keen to talk to you."

Rose raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, about genetics," she said, snorting. "Calm down. It's hardly your business, anyway."

"Yeah," Scorpius said quietly. "I should go."

"Okay," Rose said as he turned to leave, and said, "Good night."

It took a few seconds, and until Scorpius was already halfway across the hall, for the sentiment to be returned.

"What's his problem?" Rose muttered as they all went back to the common room. As Rose tried to sleep that night, she couldn't help but be afraid of—well, of what she didn't know. Being attacked? She was pureblood—she felt incredibly selfish being scared when the girl in the bed next to hers had burns down her arm. She tried to tell herself she was scared for Emma and Ava, but she knew that wasn't true. No matter how supportive she was of the cause…

She was afraid of her name on that manifesto.


	11. The Slytherin Threat

**Hi everyone, I hope you like this chapter! Please review, thank you so much! -Kelly**

CHAPTER 11

THE SLYTHERIN THREAT

Thankfully, the next month or so progressed without any further incidents at Hogwarts. However, after the first time it snowed in early December, to Lucy's dismay, their meetings attracted no new members. The two that had been persuaded to come after the first meeting were Declan Finnigan-Thomas and Alex Chang-Li. However, after Fred quit, this only put their members at 13. "This is hardly a movement," Lucy complained.

"Well, no one wants to trudge through the snow for something they've been talked into," James reasoned. "I really think you should talk to McGonagall. We could meet inside then, more people would join.

"Er, I think you'd lose members, actually," Ava said. "It'd be dangerous to publicly be a part of this. Especially for Muggleborns."

"Would you quit?" Lucy asked, looking hurt.

Ava shook her head. "I'm sticking with you," she said pointedly, and Lucy smiled. "But I'm not talking about me—I'm talking about other Muggleborns who aren't… your friends."

Lucy looked frustrated. "Okay…not yet, then. Maybe after break."

The next day Rose was sitting at breakfast with James, Al, and Emma when Hadley flew in and dropped a letter on the table for Emma before beginning to peck at the jam in the middle of the table. "Your dad?" Rose guessed, and Emma nodded as she opened the envelope. She read the letter silently, then looked up with an expression of clear fright on her face. "What is it?" Rose asked.

"Um, my dad and Collin are going on a ski trip somewhere…he said he thought I'd want to stay here since Harry always did."

"Well, only because your grandparents were gits—I mean, no offense," James said quickly. "But I've heard it's nice around Christmas time."

"But I'm…won't it be dangerous?" Emma asked quietly. "I mean, wouldn't someone trying to—to hurt people wait until there are much less people around?"

James groaned. "Oh, bloody hell, you're right. Hold on." He fished a piece of parchment out of his bag and handed it to Rose. "Write Gran, tell her we're staying here. I don't want to get killed, and you won't get in trouble because you never do."

"You really want to stay?" Rose asked, surprised.

"I don't want Emma to be in danger. If you want, you two could go home."

"If you're not going, I'm not," Al declared.

"Well, I don't want to be alone with Hugo and Lily," Rose said, her horror at that idea finalizing her decision, and began to write.

10-12-2018

Dear Gran,

Hi, Gran, how are you doing? I'm really sorry to say this, but Emma can't go home because Mr. Dursley and Collin are going on holiday and we don't want to leave her alone, so James, Al and I decided to stay over Christmas break with her. We're really sorry. Be sure to still send us sweaters, we wouldn't miss that. Give everyone love from us.

Rose

James looked over the letter and groaned. "Did you have to mention the sweaters? You really didn't have to. Maybe she would have forgotten."

"Be nice," Rose chided, then tied the letter to Hadley and addressed it to Gran before letting him fly off. She hoped he wouldn't still take it to Privet Drive; he had proven to be a quite stupid owl, he flew down the chimney of Number 3 a few weeks ago.

"I am being nice, I just gave up my holiday!" James complained, and Rose rolled her eyes as Al tapped her on the shoulder. She turned and he was pointing behind her. Rose looked again and Scorpius was approaching the table.

"Hey Weasley," he said brightly.

"Hey yourself, Malfoy," Rose said, amused at his cheery attitude. "Why are you so happy?"

He showed her a letter he had gotten, in his father's handwriting. "My dad said I don't have to come home this time. Anyone else staying?"

"We all are. For Emma's safety," Rose explained, and Scorpius grinned.

"Brilliant. I mean, sitting around alone would probably still be better, but you know… dull."

"Sitting around alone would be better than going home?" Emma asked, confused. "Why?" Everyone looked around awkwardly until she said quietly, "Did I say something or…"

"No, no, it's—it's fine. But the answer is yes," Scorpius said. "I'll see you around." And he left then, while Emma looked around at all of them.

"Really, though, what did I say?" she asked.

"Malfoys are usually the kind of people that don't like…people like you," Al told her uncomfortably. "Scorpius is sort of the exception, but… his family isn't. He was a Gryffindor, you know."

The next week progressed fairly normally, until the day before the students going home were supposed to leave, when Scorpius suddenly appeared at their table with a young Slytherin girl following him, both breathing heavily from running. Rose and Al immediately stood up, Rose sensing that something was clearly wrong. "What is it, Scorpius?" she asked quickly.

"Dungeons—you'd better see," Scorpius said, and without any further questions, they all took off running. Halfway there, Al's curiosity won out over the danger.

"Who's she?" he called out as they ran.

"Grace Zabini," the girl said. "Malcolm's sister. You're Albus Potter?"

"Al, yeah," he replied.

"Nice to meet you—and Rose, I've heard about you."

Rose blinked. How many people had 'heard about her'? They reached the dungeons and Scorpius skidded to a stop in front of the large brick wall. "Emerald," he called out quickly, and the wall rearranged into the passage Rose had seen last year. They ran through into the common room and were faced with Malcolm pacing in front of a packed common room. "Just stay quiet and no one will bother you. I just thought you ought to know," he whispered, and they backed up against the wall.

"I want to know who did this," Malcolm said, sounding very very angry though Rose had no idea why. "I know whoever did is in this room. No one else can get into this common room."

"Except Weasley and Potter, apparently," a first year girl with jet black hair and a very pointed face sneered. Malcolm turned around and saw them, then looked over at Scorpius and Grace, raising his eyebrows.

"They're staying over the break, I thought they should know," Scorpius said quietly, and Malcolm sighed and turned back to face the Slytherins.

"_They _wouldn't do something like this, Acantha; but I know some of you would. Someone got into the dorms and—ugh. Someone admit to it, or I'll take 50 points away from Slytherin right now."

"You can't do that," Lexa scoffed.

"Excuse me, I'm Head Boy, I certainly can! And will!" he said, and Rose smiled as the House stayed silent, looking around at one another. After a long silence, Malcolm sighed. "Fine. 50 points from Slytherin. Whoever it was, is disgusting. I have to report this to McGonagall. Grace, Thea, Alex, come with me." Alex Chang-Li and Grace followed Malcolm out, and a third year with almost yellow curly hair followed them as well. As she walked, her sleeve slipped up her arm and Rose saw bad burn marks.

"Is Thea the Muggleborn?" Al asked Scorpius. He nodded. "What happened?"

He sighed. "Someone got into the dorms and splattered the beds of anyone who wasn't totally pureblood with some kind of animal blood, they're not really sure what yet. And Grace showed me this—it was on the floor nearby her bed. She said Thea and Alex got notes too—Malcolm didn't but he doesn't sleep here, he's in the Head Boy's room on the third floor." He handed Rose and Al the note.

GO HOME TO YOUR FILTHY MUGGLE FAMILY OVER BREAK OR YOU'LL REGRET IT.

Rose looked up at Scorpius grimly. "It's a good thing we're staying with Emma."

"Yeah," he said. "I just… I don't know if it's Selwyn, this last one seems a bit childish. And remember what the centaurs said? There were other kids in the woods that night."

"Well, yeah, but James runs around in there all the time," Rose said. "That doesn't mean anything."

"I think he's right," Al said. "It feels like it's a student."

Rose was still hesitant. It was awfully advanced magic—but then maybe she was just trying to tell herself that. She didn't want to believe that a student would do this. "Maybe."

"I think you'd better go," Scorpius said quietly. "People are going to get pretty angry about you being in here before long."

"Thanks for showing us," Al said, and they turned to leave. As soon as they were back in the main part of the school, he groaned. "I almost thought they'd given up."

"I know, me too," Rose admitted. "This is just awful. How are people so horrible?"

"I don't know," he said. "And within Slytherin, too—I thought they were all pureblood."

"Well, it's actually very rare for someone to be completely pure—I don't know if anyone is anymore," Rose said. "There just aren't enough wizards. Just because they disown someone, it doesn't erase genetics."

"Have you been talking to Aidan?" Al said, chuckling. "You're right, though. It's really unfair that just because they don't acknowledge it, they can be better than everyone else."

"That's why we're in Lucy's group, I suppose," Rose said. They made their way back to the Gryffindor table and sat down solemnly. James, Roxanne, and Emma immediately surrounded them.

"What just happened?" Roxanne demanded, and Rose relayed the whole story. When she described the note, Emma got up and ran out of the Hall. James sighed.

"Someone needs to talk to her about doing that. She shouldn't be alone anymore."

"This is mad," Rose groaned.

"I know it is, but we have to deal with it," James said. "I should tell Lucy—and warn Ava." He left, and Roxanne smiled weakly at Rose and Al as she stood up.

"I'll go find Emma," she offered, and left them as well. Rose and Al ate in silence, both sensing that there was nothing to say. Rose just hoped that they'd get through the holiday unscathed—though at this point, their chances—especially Emma's—seemed pretty slim.


	12. The Christmas Feast

**Hey everyone! Here's the next chapter, I don't own anything, and I hope you like it! I'll be on vacation next week for spring break, so I'll try to upload anyway but I don't know how good the internet will be. So hopefully I'll see you in a few days, if not, next week. Thanks! -Kelly**

CHAPTER 12

THE CHRISTMAS FEAST

Rose woke up on Christmas morning quite early by her standards. While usually she was dragged out of bed by Min or Alana, there was no one in her dorm to wake her over the break. Though Rose felt bad about staying at school over the break, knowing Hugo was upset with her, she did like the peace and quiet that she practically never had. She dressed quickly, throwing on jeans and a red jumper, and ran down to the common room. Al and Emma were standing excitedly next to the fireplace, having jumped up the second they saw Rose. "Happy Christmas!" Al said. "We've all got presents, but we were waiting for you and James."

"Can we please go get him?" Emma sighed.

"I will," Al said. "We've got sweaters, by the way. Again."

Rose tried not to groan as Al ascended the stairs to the boys' rooms. Emma came running up to her.

"So is there a feast or something? What's going on today?" she asked.

Rose shrugged. "I didn't stay last year. We went back to the Burrow." Emma looked at her, confused. "Our house."

"Are we the only ones left?" Emma asked, looking around apprehensively.

"I don't think so," Rose said. "Maybe in Gryffindor, but… I think some people stay."

Suddenly, they heard a thud and a loud groan, and then a door being slammed open. "All right, all right!" James moaned from upstairs. Rose looked over at Emma and they exchanged a look of disbelief as Al ran back down the stairs, pulling a very tired James after him. James didn't have his glasses and was still in his pajamas. Emma giggled.

"It's too early for a holiday," he complained.

"Gran sent us chocolate," Al said. James perked up immediately.

"Happy Christmas."

Rose smiled and they all sat around the fire as Al ran over to the stack of presents and held up the four lumps of brown packaging they all knew to be the Weasley sweaters. "How does she even have time to make all these?" James grumbled as they unwrapped the gifts.

"All these what?" Emma asked, confused.

"Weasley sweaters," Al explained. "Well, Weasley-Potter sweaters I guess."

"Weasley-Potter-Dursley," James said. "You got one, too, Emma."

Emma opened her package and pulled out the sweater. It was red, with a golden E in the middle, very similar to Rose's. "It looks a bit itchy."

"Yeah, you don't wear it for comfort, you wear it so Gran doesn't murder you," Al said, snickering.

"We're not there, though."

"She would know somehow," James warned darkly. "I swear that woman and McGonagall write each other or something."

The four of them worked their way through their presents. Rose had received a portion of Gran's chocolates as well, along with a few books and broomstick polish from her parents and an Extendable Ear from Hugo, when Al said, "Er, this doesn't have a name on it."

James took the package from his brother and turned it over and over until he said, "No, it doesn't."

"Had to be sure I was telling the truth?" Al grumbled.

"I wouldn't open that," Emma said nervously, looking as if she wanted to get as far away from the package as possible.

"It'll be fine," James said, but Rose thought he looked nervous. "I'll open it, okay?" He walked a safe distance away from the other three and Rose, Al and Emma watched from the sofa as he unwrapped whatever was inside.

A small box fell out with a small envelope. "To James, Rose, Al, and Emma," James read aloud, then opened the letter. He began to read.

Dear Niece, Nephews, and Distant Relative,

I'll end the suspense. It's your uncle George. Happy Christmas— use this on that prat Selwyn. Don't open the box until he's nearby, trust me. For the love of all that is holy, do not tell your parents. Or mine.

—Uncle George

"Fred and Roxanne must have told him," James said, grinning. "This is brilliant. Let's save it for later. I'm thinking we should catch him while he's asleep."

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Emma asked.

"Come on, Emma, it'll be fun. Besides, I'm worried that box might explode if we don't let whatever it is out eventually," Al added.

"True," Rose agreed. "I say let's do it—we've got the Cloak, after all, no one will see us."

"It's settled then," James said. "Can we go downstairs? I'm starving."

"Of course you are," Rose said, rolling her eyes. "Sure. We'll wait while you change."

James stopped halfway out the door and he looked down at his jumper over his pajamas. "Er, yeah, I'll do that," he said, running back up the stairs. Once James was dressed, they walked down to the Great Hall together. When they arrived, there were a several people seated at the only remaining table in the hall, surrounded by gigantic Christmas trees decked in the finest arrays of silver and gold imaginable, while the ceiling showed the snow falling down outside. Rose loved when the Great Hall was decorated, it was always beautiful. Hagrid stood up from a chair near one end of the table and grinned at them.

"And there's Gryffindor! That's everyone, Headmistress," he said. "Except Professor Selwyn." McGonagall nodded on his right.

"Happy Christmas," she said. "Please, sit. We felt it was rather silly to continue the use of House tables for the time being." Scorpius waved them over and they filled the somewhat awkward gap between the Slytherins and Aidan and Stephanie, who seemed to be the only Ravenclaws left. There were no Hufflepuffs at the table, but Scorpius was seated next to Grace and Malcolm Zabini. Professor Rudomin sat on McGonagall's other side, and as far away as they seemingly could be from the Zabinis was a first year Slytherin boy that Rose didn't recognize.

"Hello, Rose!" Aidan said cheerfully from James's left, and Rose waved back at him.

"Hi," Scorpius said from across from her.

"Hey, Malfoy," she said. "Who's he?" she glanced down at the first year on the end.

"Ajax Rosier," Scorpius whispered. "He's a bit creepy. He didn't talk to us all morning."

"Hi, Rose, how are you?" Malcolm asked, extending his hand over the table, and Rose shook it.

"Hi, Malcolm. Good. Happy Christmas."

"Happy Christmas," he replied. Suddenly they heard a loud thud coming from upstairs. Malcolm rose immediately and turned to the professors. "I'll see what it is. Won't take long," he told them, and ran off.

"I keep forgetting he's Head Boy," Grace told Rose. "Honestly, he's always acted all responsible."

"He shouldn't have gone," Ajax said quietly from the end of the table. Scorpius, Rose, and Grace turned to face him immediately.

"What do you mean?" Scorpius asked anxiously.

"I'm just saying. He's not pureblood. Bit dangerous, running off alone like that." Ajax looked down, his dark hair falling in his face as he picked at his food. Rose turned to Scorpius and raised an eyebrow.

_I know, creepy right? _she heard in her head a moment later. She had to keep from groaning out loud.

_Can we keep this to a minimum? Aunt Lyra said it can be harmful._

_Come off it, Weasley, you just don't like me in your head._

_Well no, it's odd._

_Fine._

A few minutes later, Malcolm returned looking grim. "The noise was just Peeves," he said, "but Professor McGonagall, I think you should see what I found on my way back."

McGonagall stood up immediately. "Very well," she said, solemn, and the two walked back out of the Great Hall. James looked around for a few seconds before he stood up.

"Mr. Potter," Rudomin said in a warning tone.

"What? I want to see," he argued. "I'll be fine." He started to walk towards the door.

"James—" Hagrid said, but Rudomin cut him off.

"How do you know you will be?"

James turned around on his way out. "I'm a pureblood," he said, looking disgusted with himself, and took off running.

All three never came back to the table, so when they all finished eating, Al, Rose and Emma ran up to the dorms and through the portrait hole looking for James. They found him sitting at a small table under one of the windows, staring outside at the snow.

"What was it, James?" Rose asked, sitting down across from him. She was burning with curiosity, no matter how bad the answer turned out to be, and she knew that Al and Emma were too.

James sighed and shook his head. "You don't want to know, Rosie."

"Tell me," she said. He looked down, then back up at her.

"It was one of the owls from the owlery. It was dead. They had written something in its blood."

"What?" Emma asked, and Rose saw her hands shaking. She turned back to James as he looked out the window, avoiding their gaze.

"It said, 'New Years Eve a Mudblood dies.'"


End file.
